“Did you even read this?” Maria scanned the official letter twice more.

“Glanced at it,” Michael hit the ping pong ball harder. “Hey, put that down and I’ll set the table down and we can play.”

“Forget it; you cheat.” Maria drank from her Snapple.

“I do not cheat.”

Maria made a snorting sound. “You think I don’t see you concentrating on the ball? Do not blow smoke up my ass, buddy. I know you. Pool, video games…it’s endless.” Maria read through the rest of Michael’s mail. “You should be ashamed.”

Michael shrugged. Yeah, sure. “Why again?”

“Uh-huh.” Maria finally looked at him. “Seriously, did you not read this?”

“Something about my assistance ending?”

“When you turn eighteen. The State will only cover you as a minor child until you’re eighteen. That means …”

“I know what it means. Next year I don’t get the monthly checks or food stamps, right?”

“No. Basically, you turned eighteen this summer, so that means your entire senior year you will have to cover all your bills off your Crashdown job. The only thing they help out on is medical care and your low rent … they keep it public assistance low. The check every month is gone.”

Michael sat down, taking the paper in alarm. “Where does it say that?” Maria handed the paper over. Michael read it more thoroughly. “This can’t be right. I thought I was covered by the foster system until I graduated.”

“Or eighteen.” Maria looked at Michael critically. “Are you going to graduate?”

“Hell if I know.” Michael sighed. “I never planned on staying, you know? So I think I’ve got some catching up to do.”

“How much catching up are we talking about?”

Michael made a face. “I don’t know. This is senior year, right?” Maria nodded. “Technically that means I’m about two years behind, if you start counting freshman year.”

“God, that’s impossible! You realize that your emancipation came with the stipulation that you go to school and pay your bills.”

Michael stood up. “Look, don’t worry. I know I’m staying, so I’ll take care of business. No problem.”

Maria looked at him skeptically. “Sure. No problem.”

Maria’s cell phone on the counter rang. Michael started to answer it when Maria put a retraining hand on his arm. “God, don’t answer that!”

“Why?” Michael’s eyes narrowed. “There’s something you’re not telling me.” His eyes went over her face. She was gorgeous, utterly beautiful. He could imagine all the males lining up to talk to her … date her … over his dead body.

“Liz’s parents. It has to be.” The phone rang again. Michael lifted a brow giving her a look. So now she was going to be afraid of her own phone? Sighing, Maria answered the phone sticking her tongue out at him. “Hello?”

Maria listened to Nancy Parker for a few moments.

“No, Mrs. Parker, I haven’t seen Liz.” Maria made another face at Michael. “I … what? She missed school for two days? Um, I … um, well, no. I don’t know. No, really, I don’t, I swear.” She listened some more as Michael leaned in to listen too. “Max is missing too.”

“Maybe those two finally eloped,” suggested Michael.

“Eloped!”

Maria shushed at Michael. “No! Mrs. Parker, um … I’m sure that’s not it. I mean, you know Liz … she would never do anything like that. I swear. Uh-huh. No, I promise. As soon as I see her.” Maria sighed as Mrs. Parker went on. “No, I swear I’m right here in Roswell, not some cheap marriage parlor in Vegas. I swear. What? Okay, a few moments. Right.” She disconnected the call and glared at Michael.

“What?”

“Did you have to suggest that Max and Liz ran away together? Now Mrs. Parker wants us to come over to the Crashdown.”

“Why? We’re not working.”

“So she can physically see us. For all she knows, I might be standing in front of an altar in Vegas getting ready to watch her daughter say her vows of eternal love.”

Michael hacked. “You’re using that ‘girly’ language on purpose, aren’t you?”

“Let’s go do our duty.” Maria grabbed her bag. “I’ll buy you dinner while we’re there. You just lost your income. Bad news, buddy. You’re stinking poor.”

“Yeah, what else is new? Guess I should return the big screen TV.”

“Aw …” Maria glanced at the mammoth monster TV with regret. “Can’t you wait until after this week? There’s this marathon on …”

Michael took Maria’s arm. “Your viewing choices are beginning to disturb me.”

“Mine? You watched six hours of ‘I Dream of Jeannie’ the other night.”

“That’s classical TV. Dawson’s Creek is not.”

“Says you.”

Eating dinner, Michael and Maria were strangely quiet as they watched the frantic Parkers meet with the Evans. The parents were clearly upset and making phone calls.

“This doesn’t look good,” said Maria biting her lip.

“Yeah. Parents in any equation really suck it up.”

“Where do you think they are?”

Michael shrugged. “Don’t care, as long as I don’t get called to rescue them from another watery attempt at being wild and carefree. One skinny-dipping episode is all my heart can take, even skipping all the lurid details.”

“Okay, you know what? We are not going over the failed skinny-dipping episode again. Can’t you just bulk erase it from your alien hard drive?”

Michael sighed tragically. “If only I could. It’s indelibly etched on my brain in this recurring pattern destined to give me nightmares for the rest of my life. I think I should be eligible for survivor benefits at the very least.”

“I think you need electroshock therapy.”

Michael snickered. “Sorry, done that. Seeing Liz in her all that’s …”

“Michael!” Maria warned, more than thoroughly briefed in detail, over and over by Michael. She got it. “I think we need to keep a closer eye on those two. I’ve barely seen Liz all summer, every since that night when Max had the vision of his son’s birth, and the baby needing him, it has gotten really strange. Max and Liz are almost unrecognizable.”

Michael rolled his eyes. Strange? That was a total understatement. “Yeah, Max and Liz in a bad kid role is giving us troublemakers a bad name. Can’t you steal Liz’s raccoon makeup?” Maria chose to ignore him. “Next thing you know, Leather and Leather will be looking for matching tattoos of Gidget and Moondoggie.”

Maria was finished eating. Paying the tab, they walked outside to the Jetta. “Should we try to pick up their trail?”

“Why? Did they leave breadcrumbs?”

Maria stopped and stared at him. “Why are you being this way?”

Michael started to head to the driver’s door, but Maria shook her head and pushed him into the passenger’s seat. “Un-uh. You sit there and practice your mantra.”

“What mantra?”

“I’m a nice person. Really I am. I’m a nice person who isn’t sarcastically biting and rude. I’m a nice person …”

“You are a nice person, Maria. I don’t need to work on making you better.” Michael said laughing when her eyes narrowed murderously.

Maria got in behind the driver’s wheel. “Where to? Where should we start?”

“Home. I’ve got school tomorrow, and so do you.”

“School?” Maria said in shock.

“Hey, I told you…I’m going to take care of business.” Michael saw the worry on her face, taking her hand, he tried to reassure her. “Honestly, Maria. It’s Max and Liz. You and I just spent two years breaking and entering, investigating and going places we weren’t supposed to be … how often did we get caught?” Michael paused for dramatic effect. “Zilch. Nada. None. Max and Liz are supposed to be smarter than we are. What could they do that we haven’t already done and gotten away with? So they are a little uncharacteristically out of control, but have you ever known two individuals more tightly wound?”

Maria bit on a nail. He was right. Skinny-dipping was the height of Max and Liz’s idea of adventure. If that remained so, then whatever they were doing, wherever they were doing it, it would be okay. They weren’t stupid people.

~~~

When Max suggested a roadtrip, Liz couldn’t resist. Michael and Maria did it all the time. This was exciting, and something very different for them.

“Why here?”

“I did some research at the UFO Center. There are five government storage facilities large enough to hold the ship. It's gotta be in one of them.” Liz frowned. And, yeah, the alien aficionados had so much actual information.

Liz looked at Sam’s Quick Stop skeptically. “I don't see a government facility, do you?”

Max shrugged. “Let's take a look.” He took out a gun. Seeing Liz’s reaction, he smiled. “Don't worry. It’s not loaded.” He handed it to her.

“To go in there with a gun, that's a felony. Why can’t I just distract the clerk?”

“That's not enough time. I need at least five minutes to get downstairs, see if the ship's there, and if it works.”

“And what if it works?” Liz asked, her trust in Max was a fragile thing, and not nearly as strong as it had been over a year ago, when River Dog warned her to be certain she could trust him. “I mean, you go off to Antar and what? I mean, what if you never come back?”

“I will come back. And I'm not leaving yet.” Max reassured her. “First I have to see if this is even a possibility. I'm gonna have to figure out how to navigate it.”

“We can’t get caught.” Liz told him as she took the gun hefting it to check the weight in her hands.

“We won't,” Max assured her, his confidence unshakeable. “Are you ready?” Max asked Liz.

“Yeah, I think so.”

Max paused, for a moment uncertain. “Liz, you don't have to do this.”

“No, Max. We’re in this together.” Liz reassured him, unwilling to be left out again. “That's what we said. Together till the end.”

They pulled down their baklavas. Entering a convenience store, Sam’s Quick Stop on Highway 65 in Utah, Liz pointed a gun at the man behind the register saying in her distinctive high pitched voice, the screech being one that Maria would now have recognized as Liz’s excited tone.  “Down! Down! Now!” The man moved to reach for something. “Whoa!” She screamed waving the gun threateningly. “Down! Get down!”

“Do what she says.” Max told the terrorized store clerk. “She's crazy.”

“Face on the floor! Now!”

“I have a family.” The man begged, his voice breaking in fear.

Liz ignored him looking at Max. “Hurry. We've only got a few minutes.” Liz cocked her head, there were sirens approaching.

“Just keep your face down! Keep your face down!” Liz screeched at the man. She screamed down the stairs to the basement where Max went. “The cops are coming. We gotta get outta here. Come on, let's go!” The sirens were louder, coming fast. Liz could see approaching lights. “Come on, let's go! Hurry up!”

Max, now in the room below the store stood in front of a spaceship. He held up a large diamond that he and Liz had stolen from a socialite, Mrs. Delores Browning earlier during the summer, and the ship began to glow. Hearing the sirens, he left the basement to join Liz. Max grabbed a small bag of Cheetos on his way out of the store. They ran out of Sam’s Quick Stop and jumped into the convertible Max had bought to replace the jeep, a Cheville.

Liz looked behind as the lights continued on chasing them. “Come on. How'd they find us so fast?”

“I don't know.” Max applied more speed. “All right, hold on!”

Liz bit her lip. This didn’t look good. “Max, they can’t find out about the diamond.” He nodded, agreeing with her. He quickly tossed the diamond into the night trying to note the location. A few moments later, they spun out of control off the road until the Cheville stalled. The police units quickly surrounded them. Max quickly transformed the gun melding it into the floorboard.

“Hands! Let me see hands!”

Liz looked at Max. “You got any powers for this?”

~~~

Michael was following a teacher down the hall. “Now if I'm to have any chance of graduating this year, I need to get into your BIO 101 class.”

The man looked at Michael, pausing with his hands on his hips. “Why didn't you come to my BIO 101 class when you were in it?”

“I'm turning over a new leaf.” Michael said flatly, his lack of enthusiasm obvious.

“Excuse me while I take a moment to chuckle within.” The teacher said sarcastically.

“Ok, it’s like this, plans changed.” Michael scratched a brow. Hell, maybe being murdered on Antar would’ve been easier. “I thought I was moving out of Roswell, but as it turns out, I'm stuck here for good.”

“And how far away did you plan to move that you didn't think that your high school records would've been sent to your new high school?”

“Actually, pretty far,” Michael said in a brush of honesty. “Mr. Seligman, I know you hate my guts. Personally, I hate yours, too.”

Mr. Seligman stopped and shook his head at Michael in amazement. This kid was a real pill. “This is how you ask a favor?”

Michael continued on, applying a touch of rationale that he rarely displayed. “But if you help me graduate this year, then you won't have to see me next year.”

Mr. Seligman pursed his lips, pondering that piece of logic. “Well, you do have a point there.” The man gave in. “Ok, Mr. Guerin, I will let you in to my Biology 101 class if you make a sacred vow to me right now that you won't miss a single session.”

“Michael, there you are.” Isabel said coming towards Michael and the teacher swiftly.

“Miss Evans, I thought you graduated.”

“I did, Mr. Seligman, but I just can’t seem to cut the cord. Too many fond memories.” Isabel looked pointedly at Michael. “I need to talk to you.”

Michael glanced at the teacher remembering his promise. “I got class.”

“It's important.”

Michael sighed and tried to smile charmingly at the teacher. “I’ll be one minute.”

“I'm sure you will.” Mr. Seligman was already removing Michael’s name from his roster mentally. “Miss Evans, love the hair.”

“Well, thank you.” Mr. Seligman quickly went off, his time already wasted.

Michael frowned after the man. “So, what's going on?”

“Max and Liz got arrested in Utah for armed robbery. We have to go.”

Michael rolled his eyes, his life suddenly too busy. “So much for ever getting out of this school.” Michael looked down the hall at the class he needed. “What were they doing in Utah?”

“Robbing someone, obviously.” Isabel looked at her watch. “Look, my parents flew out there immediately, and I need to drive the family car to pick them up. Are you coming or not?”

“Yeah. I’m coming, but not until after my class. I’m probably going to miss tomorrow, and if I at least show up today, he might think I’m earnest and cut me some slack.”

“Michael, we don’t have time for this.”

“Max is in jail, right?” Isabel nodded, her impatience pasted on her face. “Good, he’s not going anywhere. I’m in jail too, and if I don’t make this class … I won’t be going anywhere either.”

“You want me to just wait until you finish your class?” Isabel couldn’t believe it. Since when did Michael ever have to be convinced to skip school?

“No. You go. I need to find Maria anyway and tell her about Liz. We’ll meet you there.”

“The two of you can ride with me.” Isabel suggested.

Michael made a face. Nope. That meant he would have to ride home with the Evans. “Um, no … you know what? I think you better go on ahead. Maria and I will take care of things here before we leave.”

“Whatever!” Isabel hurried off. It was official. She had wasted her time looking for Michael.

Mr. Seligman stood at his class door. “Mr. Guerin, are you coming?”

Michael watched Isabel stalk off for a moment. “Yeah, I’m coming.” Michael paused before entering the classroom. “Sir, I sort of have this family emergency thing in Utah. I was wondering, how you would feel about an excused absence?”

“Mr. Guerin, I will reserve judgment until I see whether you actually stay awake through my class.”

“Oh great,” Michael said under his breath. They never negotiated him staying awake.

~~~

Philip Evans paced the room, his agitation evident. Usually a pretty easygoing man, he was having a hard time controlling his temper. “Son, if you want to get out of here while you're still a young man, don't say anything to anyone unless I’m present. I'm not your father right now, I'm your lawyer.”

“Oh, my god. Max,” Diane Evans wailed, worry increasing the lines on her face.

“It's all right, Mom. It's all right.”

“Look at you.” Diane shook her head in wonder, staring at her son in handcuffs. “What is going on? Who are you? Why are you under arrest for armed robbery?”

Philip put a comforting hand on his wife’s shoulder. “Now tell us, what the hell are you doing in Utah?!”

~~~

Nancy Parker in another holding room, placed a hand on her husband’s arm. “Jeff, stay calm. Calm?!”

“How am I gonna stay calm?” Jeff couldn’t believe it, he looked at the girl who was supposedly his daughter, but barely resembled her.

“Honey, I know it isn't you.” Nancy said. “I know this is not something that you would do, but … but if you did do it, maybe it's because somebody put you up to it.”

“They put me up to it.” Liz rolled her eyes, her disdain clear on her face. “Right, Mom.”

Her attitude and tone were the final straws for Jeff. “Ok. That's enough! Now tell us what the hell happened.”

“I'm not gonna speak to anyone until they let me talk to Max,” said Liz.

The Parkers looked at each other both unable to even deal with the nightmare their daughter was becoming. Jeff should’ve seen this coming. Earlier, during the summer, he caught Liz coming in around two in the morning. She had been dressed strangely, not like herself, and her attitude had been belligerent when he asked what she was wearing. Jeff rubbed his face. If it were possible, he would suspect that his daughter had been abducted by aliens, or the very taken over by body snatchers. He would search for a pod under her bed when he finally got home.

~~~

Maria glanced over at him as he leaned against the locker next to her open one. “How did the groveling to Mr. Seligman go?”

“I’m in, or at least I am until tomorrow.”

Maria lifted a brow. “Well, I’m proud of you, even if it’s only for one day.” Shutting her locker door, she reached reaching up to straighten his shirt. “So why are you out again tomorrow? I thought you were going to take care of business.”

“Yeah, well for once in my life, it’s being fucked up by someone else’s irresponsibility. You want to adjourn to my office?”

Maria frowned, but quickly agreed as he pulled her with him to the eraser room. They never noticed the other students watching their progress as the door firmly closed. Michael used his powers to lock the door. He should’ve waited until the halls cleared from the next period, but they needed to get going. The way they drove, they should easily catch up with Isabel.

The students in the hall paused when Maria’s voice rose in disbelief,. “They what?!!”

They took the Devil’s Highway into Utah. Maria hadn’t spoken to him in hours. Isabel had taken another route, through Arizona and then north into Utah. Michael estimated that they would get there just behind her. Maria was talking … to Isabel on the phone, but to him … nope.

“How long are you going to give me the silent treatment?” Michael asked.

“Longer.” Maria sighed. “This is totally your fault!”

“My fault?” Michael eyes narrowed. How the fuck was the boring duo’s felonious acts his fault?

“I told you we should go find them … but no!” Maria made a violent gesture in front of her as her voice altered to do a fair Michael mimic. “How much trouble could they get into?”

“Okay, fine. I admit to be surprised that they managed to fuck things up royally.” Michael stopped, almost snickering at his ‘royal’ pun, but Maria wasn’t in a good mood. “You’re right. I shouldn’t have trusted them, especially given how strange they both have been acting since Max had that message from his son, but still …” Michael cleared his throat. “I do have my own life to get in order. Chasing after Max isn’t something I want to do the rest of my life, or whatever is left of it.”

“What do you mean?” Maria frowned. “Why wouldn’t you have a nice long life?”

“If I don’t get out of school, what’s the use?” Michael sighed. “I sort of fucked this up a bit. I remember you telling me last year that I should take everything more seriously. I remember you asking me what I would do if I never went home, if I waited my entire life, and they never came. I guess I should’ve listened … taken the question seriously.”

Maria moved closer to him, leaning against his arm, her hand resting on his leg. “It’s hard, I know. You were leaving, Michael. No one could’ve known it would turn out this way, least of all you. I think we all make choices in life, some of them good … many of them not so good. Maybe it’s not important to always be right, just willing to adjust to the changes.”

“I hate change.”

“I know.” Maria had yet another thing to share with him, another thing in common. “I don’t know who said it first … ‘the more things change, the more they stay the same’. That’s me. I hate change too. I spend my entire life resisting it, afraid it will happen, and maybe that makes me a coward … I don’t know.”

“Last year was hard.” Michael said.

Maria nodded. She couldn’t talk about it. Alex. It still was too soon.

Michael glanced at her, seeing the glassy sheen to her eyes. She was trying to not cry. Michael took his hand off the steering wheel to put his arm around her. Pulling her close, he leaned down and kissed the side of her head on the temple.

“It’ll be okay. We’ll get there, and it will be okay.”

Maria nodded. What if she lost Liz, too? Alex’s death was so intolerable, and when Michael left, it had been impossible to breathe … to imagine going on. Now Liz?

“Michael,” Maria said hoarsely. “I’m not doing too well.”

“It’s okay. You’re not alone.” Maria tightened her hand on his leg.

~~~

In Utah, Isabel went into the police station searching for her parents. She found her mother and the Parkers waiting for more information.

“Mom!”

Diane looked physically relieved to see her daughter. “Isabel! Your father and I have been going crazy.” Speak of the devil … Philip Evans and a new lawyer in his firm joined them.

Isabel quickly tried to get her mother to give up some information. “So what's going on?”

“Well, we're still trying to figure out what happened with your brother and Liz.” Diane smiled slightly when Philip joined her, his arm going around her shoulder.

“Hi, Dad.”

“Hey.” Philip kissed his daughter, almost relieved to deal with a sane child. “This is Jesse Ramirez from my office.” Philip quickly introduced the newest lawyer in his firm.

Isabel licked her lips quickly smiling politely. “We met at the company …”

“Picnic, that's right.” Jesse was a tall man, Latino, with warm brown eyes and an engaging smile. “Nice to see you again.”

“Nice to see you again.”

Jeff interrupted the reunion. “So what have you found out, Philip?”

“A detention hearing has been set up for tomorrow with the judge.” Philip revealed. “Max and Liz are first-time offenders, no physical evidence has been produced, so we're hoping they get a slap on the wrist and get sent back home.”

Diane breathed easier, hoping Philip’s optimism wasn’t misplaced. Armed robbery seemed too serious to sweep away. “Well, what about jail?”

“They can only go to jail if the case is transferred to the criminal court system and they get tried as adults.” Philip tried to quell his wife’s fears. “But so far that seems unlikely.”

Jesse tried to explain. “Ok, they haven't found a gun, and there are no witnesses other than the nutcase behind the counter who claims to have seen an otherworldly yellow light.”

Isabel bit the inside of her lip. Great. Otherworldly yellow light. “So as long as there's no evidence, Max and Liz will be ok, right?”

“Yeah.” Philip said, hoping he wasn’t lying to his daughter and the others. “Yeah, we certainly hope so.”

While they were talking, Michael and Maria arrived in outside the police station, parking the Jetta next to the Evans’ family car.

Maria emerged from the Jetta, looking around at the small town, shaking her head in disbelief. Oh God! Utah? “Why can’t you aliens ever get in trouble somewhere decent? Like Graceland, Tahoe or New Orleans?” She stared at the mountains, and sighed tragically. “No, Utah. Mormons and mountains.”

“Are you coming?” Michael asked, interrupting Maria’s rant. “Or you want a little timeout here?”

“I’m coming.” Maria poked a finger in his chest. “Next time? I’m requesting a place where I can wear a bikini.”

Michael lifted a brow at that. Oh, he could definitely do that. Maria … bikini. It was something to look into. After they went to the bike rally this last summer on vacation, he sort of regretted not using his vacation choosing someplace tropical with Maria in little to no clothes. He seriously needed to think over his options more carefully in the future. Thank god for the trip to Hawaii making up for his lack of insight. “It’s a deal. Now you want to join the fun?”

“Fun? You really need to reexamine your priorities and what passes as fun.” Maria told him, basically in her word reaffirming what he just told himself. What? Now she could read his mind? Michael cleared his throat nervously. He sincerely hoped not, or she might get a shock at how often she was the headliner wearing … well, nothing worth mentioning.

The Parkers and Evans seemed surprised to see Michael and Maria walking into the station. Isabel made a gesture to them. Taking a deep breath, Michael went to deal with parents while Maria was frowning at the police station. Geez, Roswell to Utah, did these places ever change? “Michael,” she whispered loudly. “I think I bailed my mom out of here once.”

Michael glanced at her. “Do you think they’ll remember you?”

“No. Absolutely not.”

“Ms. DeLuca,” a man called at Maria, who stopped in her tracks.

“Oh, shoot!”

Michael chuckled, joining the others and leaving Maria to wiggle out of her own notoriety.. “Hey. How’s it going?”

“Hi! Michael!” Diane looked uncertain as to why Michael was there. “It was good that you came.”

Michael quickly gave an explanation. “I brought Maria. She is pretty upset. It’s been hard after losing Alex … she won’t handle anything happening to Liz.”

Nancy Parker’s eyes filled with tears. “That is really kind … of both of you.” Maria joined them and surprisingly found herself swept up in Nancy Parker’s arms for a hug, and Jeff hugged Maria after his wife let her go. Maria looked at Michael helplessly, uncertain what it was all about.

With Maria distracting the Parkers, Michael addressed Mr. Evans. “Can we see them?”

Philip nodded. “I’ll arrange it.”

Jesse stopped Philip from going. “I’ll take care of it.”

Michael, Maria, and Isabel waited in the hall for the interrogators to take them to the rooms. Isabel looked at Michael and Maria.

“I’m glad you guys got here.” Maria held onto Isabel’s hand thankful that the alien girl had taken the time to track them down before leaving Roswell. They looked up as one of the Sheriff’s Deputies came towards them.

Maria sniffed. “I’ll go see Liz, if you two want to tackle Max?”

Michael stopped Maria. “You sure? We can all do both.”

Maria shook her head. “No. I better do Liz alone. You and Isabel can gang up on Max.” Maria didn’t trust herself anywhere near Max Evans right now. Michael watched as Maria followed the Deputy to the holding cells. Liz was in lockup, but Max was still in an interrogation room.

~~~

Max looked up when the door opened. He was sitting at the table waiting for his father to return.

“Max!” Isabel said. “You idiot! What are you trying to do to our poor, clueless human parents?”

Michael shut the door leaning against the door. “So what's the deal? You running low on cigarettes?”

Max looked around, his voice lowering. “There's an underground government storage facility under the convenience store.”

“Well, that's a surprise,” Michael said, his brow lifting. He couldn’t say what was more a surprise, the location, the fact Max even cared, or the fact he did not.

“Our ship's there.”

Michael came further into the room. “You mean our spaceship?”

“It's been reassembled.” Max told Isabel and Michael. “I saw it with my own eyes.”

Michael rubbed his face. “I can feel Biology 101 slipping from my grasp.”

God, he couldn’t deal with all this right now. Their ship was in the hands of who knew who, and his future was slipping from his grasp. It didn’t matter. He made his choice. He wasn’t going back to Antar, but the ship … was a problem.

“So,” Isabel asked, needing some type of confirmation, “reassembled; that means it works?”

“Possibly.”

Isabel shook her head. She didn’t want to go through this again. “I thought we made an agreement to let go of the other world and live here.”

“That was before my son tried to contact me.”

“Max, a little reality check. This ship you're talking about ...” Isabel said sarcastically, “sucks. It's a lemon. It crashed to begin with. That's why we're stuck here.”

Michael smirked. Nice to see Max in the hot seat that usually had been his place. “She's got a point.”

“Look, I need you to find something for me.” Max told Michael, ignoring his sister for a moment. “I had to toss it before we were arrested.”

“No. No, we are not helping in some absurd plan to find a spaceship, ok?” Isabel couldn’t believe this. Max was being impossible. “This is ridiculous.”

“This isn't about getting to a spaceship. Liz and I stole it. It's a diamond.”

Isabel’s mouth opened in shock. “You stole a diamond?”

“It's not actually a diamond.” Max told them. “It's the key to our ship. It's alien, and if we don't find it before the police do, we'll be linked to another crime.”

Michael groaned. Great, another crime? He was going to love telling Maria about this. Max ignored his reaction.

“We'll never get out of here.” Max told Michael.

Michael gave up. So his life was already shit, and thanks to this, he wasn’t going to make it back in time for Biology. Well, hell. Sighing, he looked at Max. “So what does it look like?”

~~~

Liz sat up when the guard let Maria into the holding cell. “Oh, my god, Maria!” Liz quickly hugged her friend. “I can’t believe you're here.”

“Who am I, Liz?” Maria asked, surprised that Liz hadn’t expected her to come immediately. “Of course I'm here. Michael and I came as soon as we heard.”

“Ok, thanks.” Liz should’ve known the Roswell aliens would be there. Where else would they be with their King in jail? Liz brushed away a feeling of irritation at having to share Max with the others. She didn’t have much luck when it came to Max having to choose between her and aliens. “Now give me some sugar.”

Maria smiled, hugging Liz harder kissing her lightly on the mouth, happy that except for her running makeup, she was basically healthy and alive. “Hi. Mmm.” Maria laughed when Liz hugged the stuffing out of her. “Hi. Ok, first of all, I have some fresh key lime pie from the Crashdown.” Maria took out the package she brought for Liz. It was a piece short. To get it in to Liz, she had to give up a slice to the guard. Good thing Michael talked her out of trying to put in a file, like the cake she made him.

“Oh, Maria, you,” Liz said through bites, “you are a goddess. You know, if you were a boy, I would …”

Maria held up her hand.  “Ok, no, don't go there, girlfriend.” Maria laughed happy to see her friend. “All right, now I talked to everyone involved, and I got the total unadulterated scoop. The judge and D.A. of this town are, like, totally sweating it because they have to go before council next month for reappointment and they haven't caught a criminal in, like, a decade, so they're basically out for your scalps.” Liz stopped eating for a moment, a range of emotions moving over her face. Maria squeezed her hand in comfort. “Ok, that's all I have.” Maria searched her friend’s face critically, not liking the new makeup that made Liz look hard and older … so much unlike herself. The sweet girl next door, Liz Parker would be so much better in court. Also, Maria saw the tiredness and the fear in Liz’s eyes. “Now it's your turn. Spill. Last I heard you and Max were trying to take it slow.”

“We were.”

“Uh-huh.” Maria breathed in deeply. “Okay, this started with the skinny-dipping message from alien baby. Why don’t you fill me in?”

“Maria …”

Maria grabbed Liz’s hand. “Look, I know that things have been a little distant between us lately, and maybe that has a lot to do with me. But, I can’t get in your head. I need to know how you’re thinking.” She looked at Liz sadly. “I can’t stand the thought of losing you, too, Liz. Alex …” She bit her lip. “I can’t.”

Liz frowned, sorry of the sadness and anxiety in her friend’s eyes. “I’m so sorry, Maria. Really I am.” Liz rubbed her face. “I haven’t told you things, because I know how you feel about Max.”

“Liz …” Maria swallowed hard.

She hadn’t got over her anger at Max. It was hard, because she thought of him as a friend, and it was hard to feel so bad about a friend. She was trying, but it was difficult. Max had a lot to atone for in her view. Alex, his treatment of Michael, breaking Liz’s heart more than once. Even as Future Max, he still was a man that needed to atone for injuries to Liz. Tess … letting her near, forcing them to trust her, and they all knew how that ended.

“I know that at some level, you haven’t forgiven me for giving Max another chance. I haven’t forgotten Alex, it’s just … Max was a pawn and a victim, too.”

“I can’t, Liz. I’m trying … really I am.”

“I know you’re trying, but in truth Maria, you’ve got Michael, and somehow he’s become your best friend, the person you confide in, and I want that with Max. I need it.”

“Need?” Maria frowned. Liz was giving up so much of herself, her ideas and morals, all for this need … this obsession. “Liz, you can’t force this type of bond … it just slowly grows out of mutual respect … not need. I can’t explain how it happens, but it can’t be bought or forced.”

Liz pushed her hair behind her ear. “I’ve done things, Maria. Things I never thought I would ever do.”

“Oh, god!” Maria said dramatically, her mind racing at all the possibilities. “Tell me everything.”

Liz shrugged. “It started with us searching through Tess’s stuff. The things she left behind. That was when I knew that it wasn’t over … that for Max, with his son out there somewhere, it would never be over. I had to make a choice. Max or my pride.”

“Oh, Liz …” Maria didn’t like the sound of that.

Liz shrugged it off. “It’s okay. It was my choice. Anyway, I found this ‘diamond’, it is really an alien crystal, and it belonged to this women, Delores Browning, one of the ten wealthiest women in the world, and her diamond was available at in Santa Fe. I helped him to steal it.”

“Why?” Maria asked appalled at the left turn that her friend’s morality had taken. Liz was a girl that couldn’t even use a fake ID in Vegas without confessing her true age. “Why would you do that?”

“You would, if it was Michael asking you.” Liz pointed out.

“Yes, that’s true, but that’s me, not you. Not the Liz Parker I know. This isn’t you, Liz. I know you, and this is not you. So really, why are you doing this?”

Liz licked her lips, uncertain where to begin, but she started with the explanation she gave Max months ago when she stole the diamond with him. “If I had lost a child, I would want someone to help me find him. But that's only part of the reason. The other part is that I don't want him to slip away from me, again. I know what it's like to be with him, and I know what it's like to be apart from him. And I would rather be with him.” Liz knew she making excuses, but who cared? It was her life, and she wanted it. Needing to reassure her friend, Liz smiled. “He’s an alien king … what could happen to me?”

Maria gestured to the jail cell around them, looking at Liz tragically, unable to settle the brooding fear in her stomach. “Why don’t you ask Alex that … or more specifically, his parents who live tortured every day with the lie that he committed suicide.”

“Maria …”

Maria shook her head looking down the floor. “After all this time, you still can’t give him up?” It was the very question she asked Liz one night long ago, in the woods when they were being hunted by dogs and Valenti.

“I don’t want to. I can’t.” Sighing, Maria understood. The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Liz was just as afraid of change as she was. Maybe in losing Alex, Liz couldn’t take losing anything else to Tess or Destiny, especially not Max. Losing Max would mean that Tess won again.

Maria looked at her friend. “He was a fool, you know,” Maria told Liz.

“Who was?” Liz asked confused.

“Future Max. He was the biggest idiot, and I suppose, so were you … in the future, I mean.” Maria quickly went to explain. “How could you ever imagine there could be a way that Max or anyone could convince you to give up him up? Look at all you went through, and still … you can’t walk away, even if it meant saving your life, or even the world.” She couldn’t say even if it cost Liz, Maria’s life, or Michael and Isabel, because of the lost of Alex, it was still a touchy topic, but Maria had no doubts if it came between her and Max … she would lose.

“Maria,” said Liz, gulping hard. It was true, and maybe it shamed her to realize that Maria was right. Nothing would make her give up Max, and no matter how hard she tried last year, even knowing the world would end, she couldn’t do it. Liz wiped the makeup from under her eyes with the napkin edge. “Tess is gone, so the whole thing about us not being together because of the world is over. What does it matter now … we can no longer get Tess back.” She shrugged, “I gave him up once, and I don’t have to do that anymore and I don’t want to. I guess that’s love.”

“Or obsession.” Maria said. “Is love supposed to hurt this much? All the time? When does it get good? How do you get past all the pain?”

“You do it, because you have to,” said Liz. “The only other alternative is inconceivable.”

~~~

“Okay, so Max didn’t give me the full story on the diamond robbery.” Michael searched the field as Maria had told him what Liz told her. “He’s right. If they found and connected this diamond to them, they would definitely be going away for a long time.”

“Did you get anything from Max?”

“Yeah, he’s whacked.” Michael said. “Go look over there.” Michael pointed to the field on the other side of the road. “Hey! Can I borrow your cell? I better make a phone call … not that it’s going to do me any good.”

Maria tossed over her phone. “Biology?”

“Yeah, I’m feeling a cold flush of doom, but I’ll give it a try.”

“You’re the man.” Maria left Michael to search and grovel in peace as she went to slowly cover the other field. A frickin’ alien crystal in the haystack. Those damn aliens needed to install ‘clappers’ to their possessions. It would save serious time.

Michael was in the field looking for the diamond and talking on the phone. He found the diamond, and was staring at it while talking when a man suddenly was in front of him in his path. The man looked like a sleazy PI in a bad suit, but it was the gun in his hand that held Michael’s respect and attention. Michael quickly shoved the alien crystal in his pocket while distractedly talking to Mr. Seligman.

“Mandatory attendance, I understand. Yeah. An attitude improvement? I'm already on that. And a respect for authority, yeah, absolutely.” Michael slowly raised his free hand, too afraid to look around to locate Maria in case he drew attention to her. “Mr. Seligman, I gotta call you back.” Michael disconnected.

“Who was that?” The man asked.

“It's my science teacher. I'm trying to graduate high school.”

“Why don't you just get a G.E.D.?”

Michael made a face. “No one hires anyone with a G.E.D.”

“I got a G.E.D.” The man said shrugging. “I'm doing fine.”

Michael made a face at the man, looking him over his eyes pausing on the gun. “Yeah, you're on a nice career path there.”

“I got a message for your friend Max. Stop looking.” The man waved his gun threateningly. “The person I work for will do whatever is necessary to stop him. Whatever is necessary.”

Michael huffed holding his hands up. “Whatever, dude.” The man shot the gun beside Michael who jumped. Being shot once in his life was enough, and the sound still made him react.

“Don't be such a smart ass. Maybe that's your problem in school, too.” The man reasoned. He smiled at Michael in a way that was nothing if not amused. “Don't make me come back to Utah.”

The man left, and Michael stood there staring after the man. He could hear Maria calling his name, her voice was high pitched and full of fear.

“Over here,” he called.

“Michael! Oh god! I heard a gunshot, and …”

Michael pulled Maria close. She was shaking. “It’s okay.” He hugged her tight looking down the road where the man had gone. “It’ll be okay. C’mon, let’s get back. I need to talk to Max.”

~~~

Isabel knocked on Jesse's door. Jesse opened his door, not surprised to see Isabel standing there.

“Thank you for this meeting, Mr. Ramirez.”

“No problem, Isabel.” Jesse shut the door once Isabel entered. The door was barely shut before they started kissing.

“Mm!” Isabel said, pulling away from Jesse, smiling. “Why didn't you tell me you were here?”

“I was working all night with your father. I couldn't call.” Jesse moved his hand up around her neck, holding her close.

“Oh, I just wish this could all be out in the open.”

Jesse frowned. It was a problem he didn’t understand. “I'm still not sure why it can’t be.”

Isabel moved her hand up his front, resting it on his chest. “Well, there's the fact that you're twenty-six, and I'm barely legal.”

Jesse smiled at that. “You're an old soul. You have clearly lived before.”

“You have no idea.” Isabel moved away from Jesse. “So, what were you and my father holding back from us before?”

“What do you mean?” Jesse asked, suddenly his expression changed, became more guarded as his lawyer demeanor took over.

“I saw the look between the two of you earlier. Clearly you're not telling us the whole story.” Isabel tilted her head, the serious expression in her eyes unwilling to let him put her off. “Jesse …”

Jesse sighed. He was definitely in trouble with her. “Last year there was a robbery in the county. A kid died. No one was ever charged, and the local prosecutor got a lot of heat for it. So …” Jesse cleared his throat. “This town is looking for someone to hang.” He hated to be the one giving bad news. “Max and Liz picked a bad place to play Bonnie and Clyde.”

Before they could talk Jesse’s phone rang. Answering it, his eyes never left Isabel.

“Hello? Philip. Oh, just, uh, working on some research.” Jesse lied, making a face at Isabel. “Ok, I'll be right over.” Jesse hung up the phone. “That was your dad. They found evidence.”

~~~

The Parkers and Diane Evans were talking to a lawyer from the town. He was the prosecuting attorney. “That's just the way things work here. She'll be fine.”

Philip joined them. “Nancy, Jeff, hi.” Nodding at the other lawyer, Philip offered his hand. “Mr. McGregor.”

“Nice to see you again, Mr. Evans.”

Jeff looked at the two lawyers. “Mr. McGregor here was just giving us the inside scoop on the Salina court system.”

“Ah, how generous,” Philip said sarcastically.

McGregor smiled pleasantly at the Parkers. “Well, nice to meet you folks. Nancy, Jeff. You're good people. Your daughter deserves her best shot.”

Philip waited until McGregor left before asking. “What was that about?”

“He's trying to put our kids in jail.”

Diane glanced at Jeff Parker before answering her husband. “Mr. McGregor just feels that we'd be better off pleading guilty.”

“Well, he'd certainly be better off.” Philip explained. “He's a prosecutor. His job is to get a guilty plea.”

Jeff’s eyes narrowed, uncertainty and suspicion making him hold himself stiffly. “But he said that if we plead not guilty, it could provoke the judge and he'd be that much more likely to transfer the case to a criminal court.”

“Jeff, if we plead guilty to a felony, then there's a case against them in criminal court. We can’t give them that option.” Philip felt bad, but he couldn’t risk anyone jeopardizing their chances to save their children. “Believe me, I know what I'm doing.”

Nancy looked between Jeff and Philip, quickly interjecting an explanation before the two men came to a disagreement. “No, it's just this isn't personal, Phil. It's just that you're a corporate lawyer and this is not your area of expertise.”

“Nancy, Jeff, that man you were talking to wants a guilty plea, and he'll say and do anything he has to, to get it.” The law was the law, and despite the branch, it remained the same. “If we plead guilty, I guarantee you this case is going to criminal court. Look, our children are in this together. We're all in this together. Believe me, I am doing right by your daughter.”

~~~

At the hearing, Max and Liz stood together at the table ready to follow Mr. Evans’ instructions as the Judge talked. Maria was sitting next to Michael, holding his hand tightly. Liz’s parents were on the other side of her.

“Do you understand the charges against you?”

Max and Liz said together, “Yes, Your Honor.”

“How do you plead?”

“Not guilty,” said Max.

Liz followed suit. “Not guilty.” Maria, sitting behind Liz, winced. They had pulled a gun, albeit an unloaded gun, on a man with a family. She bit her lip trying to stop from mumbling a prayer aloud.

“All right, then, you can have a seat.” The judge waited until the two teenagers sat down. “Now, Mr. McGregor and Mr. Evans, I've reviewed the material you've submitted …”

Philip quickly interjected before the Judge made a ruling. “Your honor, before you make a ruling on this, I have additional material that I feel is critical to this case.”

“All right, let's see it, Mr. Evans.”

“Thank you.” Philip handed over some papers. “These are four recent rulings in Utah state courts, all of which disallowed DNA matches from hair follicles to be submitted as evidence.” Philip returned to his place. “Uh, your honor, in consideration of the fact that these few strands of hair are the only physical evidence in this case and there are no priors on either defendant who are both standout students and members of their community, I ask that this matter be dismissed.”

“All right. Well, thank you, Mr. Evans, I'll take that under consideration.” The judge quickly read through his notes, the notes on the case, and the new information that Philip had given to him. Clearing his throat, he began.

“Max Evans.” Max stood up at his father’s urging. “It's the decision of this court that you be released to the custody of your parents, that you be returned to your home state of New Mexico if you will agree not to return to the state of Utah until your 21st birthday. Do you agree with that, Mr. Evans?”

“Yes, Your Honor.” Maria squeezed Michael’s hand feeling better already.

“Very good. Have a seat.” He moved the papers on Max’s case aside, moving Liz’s in front of him. “Elizabeth Parker.” He waited for Liz to rise. “Now, your voice and your height match the description of the person in possession of the firearm.” The judge kept eye contact with Liz. “Armed robbery's one of the ten crimes punishable under Utah's serious shooter offender act. Therefore it is my decision to transfer your case to the criminal court system.” Max and Liz shared a shocked look. They assumed Liz’s judgment would be the same.

Philip stood up immediately protesting. “But, Your Honor, there was no gun found. The only mention of a gun was from the testimony of a clerk whose credibility …”

“I've made my decision, Mr. Evans. This is for another court to consider.”

Maria’s hand tightened painfully on Michael’s. She stood up with Nancy Parker, her mouth open, as disbelief moved over her face.

Nancy was much more vocal. “Oh, my god!” She looked at her child, desperate. “You can’t do this!”

“Your Honor, this girl has never so much as jay-walked.” Philip protested, fueled by Nancy Parker’s reaction. He promised it would be okay. “She's one of the best students in Roswell High.”

“Well, you're not in Roswell, Counselor, and considering your client is missing school for this, I don’t believe she is one of the best any longer.” The judge hit his gavel. “This hearing's adjourned.”

“Oh, my god, no!” Nancy Parker grabbed Liz’s arm, frantic. “No, you can’t take her! You can’t,” The guard pulled Liz away in handcuffs. “… no!” Maria went to move forward, but Michael held her back.

Philip looked at Liz, reassuring her. “It'll be ok. Liz, … Liz, we'll talk, ok?” They watched helplessly as Liz was taken away by the guard.

“Michael …” Maria said helplessly, her voice was thick with tears.

He hugged her to his side, hating how her body was shaking. “I know,” he said against her skin. “I know.”

“This isn’t over is it?” Maria asked him.

“No. Not as long as that ship is out there. Not as long as Max’s son is out there.”

Maria waited until the courtroom cleared, letting Michael lead her outside. “Where is this ship?”

“That convenience store. The crystal we recovered is supposed to activate the ship.”

They stood outside the courthouse. Maria stared off at the mountains. “We need to get to that ship before Max, or worse yet, Max convinces Liz to go after it again.”

“Let’s go.” Michael said taking her hand.

~~~

They sat in the Jetta watching the convenience store. There was no activity. The place looked closed.

“What do you want to do?” Maria asked Michael.

“I don’t see anyone. This looks deserted to me.” Michael searched the surrounding area. “Keep a look out. You feel funny about anything, or see that freaky guy … get nervous in anyway, you get out of here. Do not wait for me, and do not come inside.”

“Michael …”

“Maria, I mean it. You understand?”

“I can’t just leave you!”

“Maria,” Michael leaned over. “You go. Promise me.”

“Michael, I can’t …”

“Promise me right now, or we both leave here right now.”

Maria bit her lip. He was serious. It was between his safety and Liz’s. “Michael, I can’t …”

“Then we leave.” Michael went get back into the driver’s side.

“Okay! I promise!”

Michael smirked and took off. Not bothering with the front door, it was more than likely protected and covered with some sort of surveillance. Michael checked around the building finding a small window and an access going into the basement. If there was a ship in the basement, there had to be a way in and out.

Moving down towards the basement door, he paused against the wall. Placing his hand on the wall, he stopped and concentrated. He could feel the movement of energy through the wall. Active surveillance. It had to be wired. Michael placed his hands on the wall and pushed the electricity. He could feel the moment the electricity shorted out. Michael waited an extra moment in case there was a backup supply.

After he could no longer feel the electricity, Michael used his powers to alter the stone of the wall. Walking through the artificial door he created, Michael stared into the empty basement.

The government had moved it, probably almost immediately after Max and Liz’s failed attempt. Stepping back outside, Michael put the wall back.

“Well?” Maria asked when he got into the Jetta.

“It’s gone.”

~~~

Liz and her parents were meeting with a lawyer. “Liz, I’ve reviewed your case with your parents, and my advice as your attorney is to try to make a deal.”

Liz looked at the man, skeptical to trust another lawyer. “What kind of deal?”

“You're a good kid, Liz. Honor student, clubs, and activities.” Her parents nodded. She was always a good kid … or at least she had been before Max Evans. “Maybe you fell in with a bad crowd, met a guy with a problem. Maybe Max dragged you into this.”

“You want me to sell Max out?”

“He sold you out when he made you walk in there holding that gun.”

Liz shook her head. “We're in this together.”

Nancy frowned at her daughter’s stubbornness. “Not anymore. He got off. He’s free to go home. Honey, you could go to jail for twenty years.”

Seeing the stubborn set of his client’s jaw, the lawyer moved the conversation along. “Let's talk about the gun. Did Max convince you to hold it? How'd you get it to begin with?”

Liz refused to talk, or give any details. Her jaw clenched, and she refused to even admit that there was a gun. Her parent’s anxiety was apparent, and Liz tried not to react to it. If she did, she would break.

Alone in her cell, Liz sat up when Max opened the door. He came to break her out. He wanted them to leave, but she couldn’t do that. Her parents … she couldn’t let it end like that. The disappointment was already too much, and anymore would destroy them. Liz sent Max away to search for the ship again, to make what happened worth it.

~~~

Michael was reading in bed. Maria was beside him, asleep. She was curled into his side. Michael sighed. Turning the page, he was reading Biology, and he promised Mr. Seligman a makeup paper to pay for the days missed. Michael looked down at Maria when there was a knock on the door. Carefully getting up, he put the book aside.

Max nodded at Michael when he opened the door. “How's it going?”

“Maria's been crying about Liz the whole night. Other than that, things are great.” Michael didn’t bother to mention his missed class and the possibility of never graduating.

“I need the diamond.”

“Maxwell, I told you that guy scared the crap out of me.” Michael had told Max about how the man threatened him. “There's someone out there that wants us to stay away. And you know what? He convinced me.”

“I'll be careful.” Michael glanced at Maria who was sleeping in the bed. “Michael, my son is in trouble. Just give me the …” Max lowered his voice, “give me the diamond.”

“It won’t do you any good, Max. The ship is gone.”

“How do you know?”

“Maria and I went there. It was gone. The store was closed.” Michael lowered his voice. “It won’t do you any good to go there, Max.”

“Why did you do that?” Max didn’t want anyone else to get hurt or in trouble because of him. “I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“I didn’t do it for you. Maria asked me to do it, because she doesn’t trust you not to risk Liz again.”

Max visibly winced. Maria, the loss of her friendship hurt. He didn’t know how to begin to mend the fences. “I’ve got to go anyway, Michael. I have to know.”

Michael nodded. He knew that. It made it easier knowing Max wasn’t going to find anything. “I would do it for you. You tell Isabel that you came in here and you found it yourself.” Michael gestures to the sofa.

Max understood. Michael didn’t want to be caught in a fight between him and Isabel or even between him and Maria.

“Michael,” Max asked. “If you had to choose …”

“Don’t ask, Maxwell.” Michael didn’t want to have to choose Maria over Max, but he would. He understood her fears and her motives, and though he understood Max’s need to find his son, he couldn’t agree with the methods. They should have all learned something from the loss of Alex.

Maria woke up while Max was retrieving the diamond from under the sofa cushion.

“Hey.” Max said when Maria sat up in the bed. She was wearing Michael’s shirt.

“How could you make Liz hold the gun?” Maria asked, her tone angry and accusatory. Max actually had the grace to blush in embarrassment, already feeling bad about how things turned out.

“You better leave,” Michael told Max.

After the door shut, Michael leaned against it.

“He’s still going to go, isn’t he?”

“Yeah. I told him the ship was gone, but he has to see it for himself.” Michael came back to the bed. “He’s trying, you know.”

“I know.” Maria waited until Michael settled before lying down on his chest, moving in close. “What will we do if Liz is sent away for this?”

Michael sighed heavily. “We’ll break her out.”

“Prisoner or a fugitive. It’s a hard call.” Maria looked up at him. “Michael, do you ever miss normal?”

“I’m not sure I remember ever feeling normal. What is that?”

Maria sighed. “If I ever feel it again, I’ll tell you.”

~~~

Michael and Maria didn’t bother to stay and watch Liz’s release from prison. Max had gone back to check out the ship. It was gone, as Michael and Maria already informed him, but before he got there, he was warned off by an FBI agent, Burns. He went and it was gone. Before he could leave, his father walked into the basement.

“So his father followed him?”

“Yep.” Michael navigated the road, passing a slower vehicle. “That’s right, now we have a strange freaky man with a client unknown, an agent Burns, and now Mr. Evans is looking at us. Mr. Evans isn’t stupid. He knows that there is something. They found a substance in the basement, and they used it to convince the FBI to exert pressure on the locals to drop the charges.”

“I don’t care how it happened,” Maria told Michael. “All I care about is that Liz is free.”

“How free is she, Maria? I thought she told you that her parents forbid her to date, speak, or be anywhere Max is.”

Maria looked out the window. “Maybe that’s not a bad thing.”

“Mr. Evans realized that Max was there for something other than robbery. He knows that Max was after what was in the basement, and he wants answers.” Michael glanced over at Maria. “This could get dangerous again. You think Liz might be better off without being involved in this … what about you? I don’t want to see you hurt.”

“We talked about this before.” Maria turned to look at him. “It’s not the same. You know that. Max supposedly loves Liz, and I always believed it. It’s just at times … he doesn’t act like he does. It’s not just Tess, but his whole strong arm tactics to control her when she was looking into Alex’s death, and this whole rebellious youth thing. He takes risks with her life and freedom, and even if it is her choice, I never thought him capable of risking Liz.” Maria licked her lips. “Would you have let me hold the gun?” Maria rolled her eyes. “Okay, so maybe it’s not the same, but still … would you?”

Michael pulled over to the side of the road. He stared straight ahead. “Never. God, Maria, I hardly trust you to shave your legs.”

Maria punched him. “I told you, that was an accident. Your razor was dull.”

“That’s because you keep using it.” Michael stretched his neck and shoulders. “I’m tired.”

“You slept last night.”

Michael made a face. “Not that kind of tired. I don’t know, Maria. How am I supposed to feel? I’ve always wanted to know who I was, where I came from, and why … why I was here. Then this happens.”

“It bothers you?”

“A little. It bothers me that I barely care, except how it’ll mess up my life right now. Strange, when I didn’t have a life, it was all I wanted.”

“You switched places with Max. Now you are sensitive, caring … responsible, and Max is …”

Michael glanced at Maria in horror. “You are one mean woman, Maria DeLuca. You would say that to me? You called me ‘sensitive’!”

Maria laughed. “Are we going to sit on the side of the road forever?”

Michael pulled the Jetta back into traffic. “Nope. We’re going to go find trouble on our way home so I can feel better about myself.”

Maria laughed. Oh, much better. Now that was the Michael that she knew.

Michael, the Guys and the Great Snapple Caper…….

Karl, the general manager glanced at his applicant. “So, Mr. Gweerin …”

“Guerin.”

“It says here you've been an emancipated minor for the last two years.”

“Yeah.”

Karl seemed impressed. “A lot of responsibility for someone your age. You like responsibility?”

“Yeah, sure. I like to stay on top of things.” Michael said ignoring the fact his power was disconnected due to non-payment after four notices. “I'm a big believer in self-discipline.” Michael told the prospective employer thinking of his large screen TV he bought and returned. Hey, he did return it.

“What about school? Aren't you worried that a second job might interfere with your studies?”

“I think I can handle it.” Well except for BIO 101 which was riding his ass, if only he could stay awake through it.

“Ok. Let's cut to the chase, Guerin. You already have a job flipping burgers. Why do you want a second job?”

“Well, there are many reasons. Uh …” Michael scratched his eyebrow. “But I think the primary one is …” Michael remembered Maria and the end of the summer picnic they went to on the lake. They stayed late and laid on a blanket under the starry sky trying to figure out the different constellation. The next day, he stood in front of the jewelry store staring at what he wanted more than anything. “Financial. Definitely financial.”

“I see.”

“And I guess I sort of want to see what it's like out there in the world.” Michael confined in the man. The Granilith was gone, he wasn’t going to Antar ever, and now his dream of moving to some larger city with Maria was a real possibility. He needed work experience.

Karl smiled. “Congratulations. You are now Meta-Chem pharmaceutical's newest security guard.”  The man shook his hand.

“When do I start?”

“Orientation's tomorrow night.”

Michael frowned. “I'm not going to be done at the Crashdown until 10:00. Is that too late?”

“We don't need you till 0200.”

Michael paused for a moment, unsure if he heard right. “0-2 … That's 2 am.”

“That's right. 2 to 7 every night. You're working the graveyard. I'll see you then.”

Michael sighed. Every night? He wouldn’t be sleeping with Maria anymore. Her mother and Sean had gone to Las Cruces to open the new store, and though at times they were home, most of the summer, she had been alone. Maria hated being alone.

~~~

“Maria …”

“God, no! Liz. Please, I beg you. No more letters! I’m not the US Postal Service.” Maria begged hating to have to deliver to Max. They were still not getting along, and it was due to her, but she wasn’t ready to forgive and forget. In her opinion, that was what was wrong with Max … everyone forgave him so easily and he was used to getting away with murder.

“Please, Maria?”

“Oh, for the love of Pete!”

“I wrote him how I dream of him, of us, flying through the night holding hands just like Superman and Lois Lane in the first movie … you know, the good one.”

“I’m going to be sick.”

“It is so unfair that my father is being so hard over this.” Liz looked over to see Max looking in the window of the Crashdown as her father walked up. “He wasn't coming in,” she told him.

Mr. Parker glared at Max until he walked on. “Let's get back to work.”

Liz shook her head in anger. “He wasn't coming in here. He wasn't breaking the rules.”

“We'll talk about it after your shift,” her father suggested. “Okay?”

“This is so ridiculous. You can’t keep us from seeing each other.”

Mr. Parker ignored his daughter’s current bitch fest. “Oh, table 11's waiting.”

“Ohh!” Liz said sarcastically, “look at that.” She stomped off to pick up the order.

Mr. Parker shook his head. He looked at Maria who held up a hand. “Please, don’t. I’m still nauseous from before. You’re killing me. The two of you are killing me.” Maria went into the back to see if Michael had drunk all her Maalox.

~~~

Kyle entered the house, slamming the door to wake his father from his slumber in the lounger.

“Kyle?” He sat up knocking the potato chip pieces off of him. “Hey, son, how was work?”

“It sucked as usual.” Kyle said staring at the stack of mail on the table. “Toby has me rehab’ing brake pads again. Hmm.” He read a letter aloud,  “Your credit rating may be adversely affected by this action. Well, it's nice of them to let us know.” He dropped the letter onto the pile with the rest of them  from the bill collectors. “So how's the job search going? You got any prospects for a full-time, well-paying job in your future?” Or getting off the sofa and bathing? Clean the house? Anything?

“Well, actually something did sort of come up.”

Kyle mouthed opened in surprise. “You got a job?”

“Well, it's not exactly a job. It's a sort of a … How do I describe this? It's a business. Kind of a small business.”

“This I like. I like this.” Kyle said, showing increasing enthusiasm. “Small business?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“That sounds profitable.” Kyle rubbed his hands in glee. “Ok. Hit me. Pitch me. Make me proud.”

“I think I should pursue this a little bit further. I'll tell you about it in a few days.” Jim told his son, wanting to have it all laid out before he told him the details.

“Ok. I can handle that. I think.” Kyle’s enthusiasm was waning.

~~~

Maria was reading a magazine. Glancing at the time, she called to the other room, “Michael, please. Come out. You've been in there an hour!”

“Go home.” Michael said from the bedroom. “I will see you tomorrow.”

“No. I want to see it.” Maria turned when Michael came out of the bedroom in his security guard uniform. Maria’s mouth opened. He looked … oh god! He looked so damn cute!

Michael immediately saw her smile. “Maria …”

At that moment Max entered the apartment, stopping when he saw Michael.

“Hey, Max,” Maria greeted him, reaching over to shove a stack of Liz letters towards him. “Special delivery.”

Max stared at Michael and then Maria. “Oh, sorry. Bad time?” Maria chuckled and went over to help Michael who was struggling with his tie. “Is this some deranged sex thing?”

Michael eyes met Maria’s. She was laughing to herself. Michael made a face at her. “I got a job.”

“Security guard?”

“Gotta start somewhere.” Michael put his hands on Maria’s waist and sat her down on a stool. “Sit. No laughing.” He glanced over to Max who was at his place late. “What are you doing here?”

“Nothing. I just …”

“Maxwell, it's the middle of the night. What's going on?”

“Well, you heard about my dad and I … That I moved out?”

Michael fussed with the front of his uniform again. It didn’t fit right, the tie still looked crooked. “Yeah, you left the loving parents, the cushy home, college fund et cetera. Smart move.”

“Yeah, I just … Look, I need a place to crash for a couple days, until I figure something else out.”

Michael glanced up from his fussing. “So, how does the Cheville figure into this?”

“My car?”

“Do I get driving privileges?”

“Yes, Michael.”

“The couch is yours.” Michael said with a grand gesture.

Max nodded. “I’ll go get my stuff.” He was out the door before Michael could change his mind.

“Stuff?” Michael glanced at Maria. “Did he say ‘stuff’?” She nodded. Michael rushed to the door. “Whoa, whoa, no stuff! Just a few days, remember?” Michael heard Maria chuckling. “What?”

Maria went to get something to drink. “Looks like you got a roommate.”

“I don’t need one. I already have one.” Michael came over to take her drink and take a swig. “Where are you going to be tonight?”

“I don’t know. No one is at my place. You’ll be working. I guess I’ll go home.” Maria was resting against the refrigerator as Michael leaned over her sharing the drink.

“You could stay here.”

“Max is here.”

“So? He’s on the sofa.” Michael hated to leave her alone. “Look you sleep here, and I’ll see you in the morning.”

Maria reached up and fixed his tie. “I could drop you off and pick you up, that way you don’t have to ride your bike.”

“Better idea. You go to sleep. I’ll take the Jetta, and I’ll wake you up for breakfast when I get home.”

“You need to go to sleep when you get home.”

“Food and short nap. You can wake me up for school.”

“Okay.” Maria patted his stomach. “You got two hours before work. We should feed you. What you want?”

Chinese. Extra eggrolls.”

“I’ll order.” Max came in the door noisily with his stuff. “Actually, you better help Max. I’ll just go order and wait for it.” Maria smiled at Max. “Max, you want Chinese?”

“Sure.”

“What?”

“Chicken cashew.”

“Gotcha.” Maria kissed Michael’s cheek as she reached into his back pocket and stole his wallet. “You’re buying!”

“Hey!” Michael laughed as she danced away. “Extra spice on mine!”

“Like I didn’t know. God help your new co-workers.” Maria left the apartment not bothering to ask Michael what he wanted. She knew his favorite order by heart.

Max watched her leave. “Is she okay with this?”

“She didn’t say. It wouldn’t occur to Maria to protest it or to have anything wrong with it.”

“You didn’t tell her why you stayed?” Max couldn’t understand that. The two literally spent the entire summer together, even took two vacations, and they never found the time to talk about what made Michael walk out of the Granilith chamber that day.

“Look, I don’t want to push things, okay? She still reeling over Alex, and to tell the truth, I think I’d like to give her time to really start to believe that I’m staying. Taking care of my school work, getting a real job, you know … all of that I’m doing is for her. So she feels secure.”

Max scratched the back of his neck. “She still upset with her mom leaving?”

“A little,” Michael sighed. “She doesn’t sleep well … not since Alex. With me working every night, it’s not going to help things. School, two jobs … I don’t want to get behind on things with her, so do me a favor and don’t provoke her.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. She’s still mad at you.” Michael rubbed his neck. “I guess I’m asking you to keep an eye on her since you’ll be here.” Michael paused for a second as a horrible thought occurred to him. “You’re on the sofa. If I catch you sleeping with Maria, even in comfort, I’ll kill you.”

“Michael.”

“She’s my girl, so keep your damn distance. Just call me if she has a problem.”

Max took Michael’s warning seriously since the other man’s eyes left no doubt. “So the two of you are finally officially dating … not just buddying around?”

“That’s right. Maria doesn’t realize it yet, I thought I would just let her get used to it. Acclimatize to the facts of life … so don’t screw me up.”

“She doesn’t know yet.”

Michael shrugged. “Maria can be dense like that at time. I figure, it works to my advantage. By the time she figures it out, it’ll be too late. I’ll be under her skin.”

“Michael, I’m not sure that’s the best strategy. Maybe you should just ask her out on a date … officially.”

Michael glanced at Max. “Um, you know what, Max? I think I’ll pass on your relationship advice. In the last year, you haven’t really done anything to inspire confidence. And in case you haven’t noticed, my girl … she sleeps with me. Albeit it platonically, but from my view … I’m in the door. Things are looking good. I just need to step up my dating campaign.”

“Step it up?” Max didn’t know why, but for some reason that made him break out in a sweat. Michael and Maria were already practically inseparable. Stepping it up, that sounded … Max cleared his throat. He might need a cold shower.

~~~

Michael was bored. This job sucked. The room was quiet with his four other co-workers staring at empty monitors. Sniffing, Michael shrugged and hit a tape button. The game came on. Smiling he sat back to watch.

Monk one of the other guards glanced over at Michael’s monitors noticing the game. “What are you doing, man?”

“Watching a replay of tonight's game,” Michael said taking a sip of his Snapple.

Fly stretched his chair past Monk’s to glance at what Michael was watching. “Hey, Chico, you can’t do that.” Fly said appealing to their crew leader, Steve. “Can he do that? Can I do that?”

Steve glanced over. “Aren't you supposed to be checking the motion sensor logs for the anomalies?”

“Done,” Michael reported. “But here, I'll check again.” He flipped a few buttons, as the screens changed, then flipped it back to the game. “Checked … and rechecked.”

George pushed Fly out of the way. “Hey, Chico, can I get that on my screen, too?”

“Hold on.” Michael made a few adjustments and flipped a switch. The game showed up on other screens. Fly, Monk and George all smiled sitting back to watch the game.

“Michael, turn the game off, man. That's not cool.” Steve told him.

“Ok, Steve, here's the thing.” Michael said turning to the older man who had about six years on him in age. “This job sucks. It's the most boring thing I've ever done in my life. I don't know about you guys, but I'm gonna do what I can to improve the work conditions. That means this.” Michael took off his evil tie that never was straight and looked stupid to boot.

Steve frowned hating his tie too. “The company has a very strict dress code.”

“Yeah, but who's gonna enforce it?” Michael asked, lifting an eyebrow at the man.

Monk smiled taking off his tie. “Suddenly, I feel very bad.” The two others joined in on the shift mutiny.

Michael didn’t want to undermine Steve, just get him to loosen up a bit. The tie would be a nice start. “Now, I know you want to take that off. Come on.”

Steve looked at the others who made gestures for him to join in on their uniform independence. Steve slowly pulled off his tie. “Somehow … I know I'm going to regret this.”

“Yeah!” Michael yelled enthusiastically as Steve and the other joined him on a bit of fun. They all went back to the game.

“Score! Yeah!” Monk said almost tipping out of his chair.

~~~

Michael entered work with a smile and a packed bag. Addressing the ‘guys’, he pulled out his bag of tricks for the night. “Boys, I come bearing gifts.” He proudly held up poker chips.

“What you got, man?” Monk asked when he saw what it was. “Oh, sweet, dude!”

Michael and the guys sat back for a nice long shift of messing off at work playing card, watching TV, eating takeout pizza, and drinking Snapple. Michael laughed as he won another hand. Had he known working could be so much fun, he might have tried it sooner.

~~~

“Okay, officially, I’m starting to worry about you.” Maria told Michael when they left the late show.

“Why?”

Maria glanced at him. “You checked your watch three times, and commented on how you didn’t want to be late for work.”

“So?” Michael put his arm around her shoulders. “Maybe I’m becoming more responsible?”

“Oh, sure that must be it.” Maria sniffed. “Do I need to mention that I paid your electricity bill to have it reconnected?”

“That was a fluke. I told Max the Mooch to catch the utilities.”

“Uh-huh.” Maria breathed deeply moving closer into his side. It was getting colder in the evenings. She should’ve worn something heavier. The movie theater was still running air conditioning as well. “I’m cold.”

Michael took off his jacket and shoved her into it. His jacket drowned her. Sometimes, he forgot how tiny she was. He searched her face. “You okay?”

“Yeah.” Laughing when he buttoned her up, they continued walking.

“C’mon, I’ll buy you a hot coffee or chocolate.”

“Big spender. We sneak into the movies, and you buy me a chocolate.”

“Hey, I flipped for a large corn with extra butter.”

“True.” Maria snuggled closer to him. “Hey, can we skip coffee?”

“Sure. You wanted to do something?”

“I haven’t been sleeping well. You want to come take a nap with me before you have to go to work?”

Michael glanced at the time. Three hours. He had three hours. “C’mon. You look like you could use some rest.”

“What? Are you telling me I look haggard?” Maria whispered in horror. Michael just dragged her along with him.

Michael left his bedroom quietly a few hours later swearing at the time. He only had half an hour to eat and get to work. Max was reading on the sofa.

“Hey, sorry. Did I wake you up?” Max asked.

“Nah. I sort of overslept. Maria’s still asleep. She was tired after the movies so we took a nap.”

“She rarely sleeps here now and when she does, she isn’t sleeping well.” Max told Michael. “I hear her tossing around all night long, and a few times she got up in the middle of the night and went out.”

“Where?”

“A walk, for about an hour or so.”

Michael nodded. He used to do that too. Usually when his brain was overactive and he couldn’t settle to let sleep in. “Is she talking to you? Telling you what is upsetting her?”

“Isn’t that your job? I mean, she barely can tolerate me some days.” Max admitted. Sighing, he saw the look on Michael’s face. “I guess while you’re having a great time playing at work, she’s … lonely?”

“I can’t quit. I have bills to pay. Things I need to buy.”

“Hey, I wasn’t criticizing. I’m just saying that she spent a lot of time depending on you, and now she’s having to do it alone. Maybe you should give her time to adjust.”

Michael started to take down dry cereal for a quick dinner. He put it back, suddenly he wasn’t hungry. Most days, he forgot to care or remember what he was working for when he got caught up in socializing at work. “Maybe I don’t want her to learn to find me expendable.”

“Well, I’m just saying that your subtle ‘dating’ practices might be a tad too subtle?” Max pointed out. Instead of Maria feeling closer to Michael, she was actually feeling further and further out of his sight. “Maybe you need to rethink your efforts.”

~~~

Michael was bouncing a basketball down the hall while checking doors with Steve.

“Door 52 secure, sir.” Michael said saluting Steve’s authority. 

Steve shook his head at their youngest puppy demeanor crew member. “You've certainly made the guys a happier crew. Fly was actually on time tonight.”

Michael made a face. “Just trying to make things more interesting. Door 53 secure. Job still sucks.”

“Look, Michael, I just don't want this to get out of control. Some of us need this job.”

“You take this job way too seriously.” Michael told his friend. “What's the worst that could happen?”

Steve shook his head. That was a question he really didn’t want to have answered.

Fly glanced at Michael as he ate on his pizza. “Hey, Maria sounds like a good girl.”

“She is that.”

“Got a picture?” Michael nodded and dug out a picture of him and Maria on vacation that summer in Hawaii. She was wearing a tiny miniscule set of strings that was passing itself off as a bikini with a smiling Michael wrapped around her from behind. Fly checked out the picture and passed it to Monk and the others all who made whistling noises. “You're all set. You got a girl, got a job.”

Michael took back his picture smiling at it for a moment before safely tucking it away someplace Maria wouldn’t find it. “Yeah. I just need power back in my apartment, and I'll be living the American dream.”

“So, you gonna marry her?” Fly asked curiously. Hell, if the man wasn’t, maybe he could get her number.

“Maria?”

George laughed at the expression on Michael’s face at the unexpected question. “Yeah. Maria. The chick that is too hot for you in that picture.”

Michael made a face at the other guard. “I don't know about marriage, Chico. I’m still trying to find the way to turn our friendly little outings into something else. Marriage? That's a little bit down the line. I’m still working on a real date.”

Fly called to Michael. “Yeah. Hey, Mike.”

“Mm-hmm, yeah.”

“I don't think you should say, "Chico." You really don't pull it off.” Fly said as Monk shook his head at Michael backing Fly up.

“Right. Yeah.” Michael glanced at his monitors noticing Karl. He was coming towards the guard booth.

“Red alert!” Michael whispered loudly shoving all the garbage off his station and trying to get back into uniform.

Monk looked at George while adjusting his tie. “Is this straight?”

“Good evening, sir.” Steve said. “Can I be of some assistance?”

Karl looked the graveyard shift over. “It's come to my attention that there has been a serious security breach here at Meta-Chem.”

“What kind of breach?” Steve asked feeling sweat breaking out on his skin.

“Theft! Someone broke into the company cafeteria and made off with a substantial amount of peach Snapple. Several cases, in fact. The food service manager seems to think it's an inside job. What do you think we should do about this, Mr.,” he glanced at Michael’s name tag, “Uh … Guerin?”

“I think we should get right on it, sir.” Michael responded seriously congratulating himself on a real good answer. “Where should we start?”

Karl picked up a Snapple cap and looked at the men. “I think that the first thing you should all do is clean out your lockers. You're all fired.”

~~~

Michael was bitching while Maria listened. She watched him tossing the ball around burning off spare energy.

“So somebody steals a case of Snapple, and what do they do? They blame the little guy. They point the finger at the people at the bottom of the ladder, the people who are actually working for a living.”

Maria made a face. “You actually worked?”

Michael scratched his eyebrow. “We screwed around a lot, but let me tell you something, nobody got in or out of that plant without us knowing about it. We had that place wired tight!” Michael informed her. “Meta-Chem was lucky to have people like us on duty.”

“Uh-huh.” Maria got up and went to open the refrigerator. She stood staring at the huge supply of Snapple. Standing back from it she gestured to it while looking at Michael.

Michael rolled his eyes. “Ok, so technically I stole it, but they didn't know that.” Michael pointed a finger at her to stress his  point. “They assumed.”

“Right,” Maria took out a peach Snapple and opened it.

“Karl fired us because he only thought one of us took it.”

“But you did take it.” Maria pointed out.

“That's not the point.”

Maria sat down at the kitchen counter and gave him her full attention. “Ok, tell me the point again.”

“That corporate America sucks.” Obviously! Michael couldn’t see she couldn’t see that.

“All right. So, I'm assuming I'm gonna have to keep paying for dinner and supplying the kerosene to light the apartment?” Maria asked. She didn’t mind helping out, but where he was putting his money was a huge mystery to her.

“I'll get another job.” Michael said, not letting this temporary situation be a huge problem.

“Uh-huh.” Sure jobs grew on trees for eighteen year old high school students. “Now, what did other guys say about this happening?”

“What other guys?”

“Your coworkers, Skunk and Flea.”

“Monk and Fly.”

“Whatever.” Maria waved off the names as unimportant. “Did they at least stick up for you?”

“No. They were fired, too.”

“What?!” Maria’s mouth dropped. “Okay, so you missed some important facts in the regaling of this sordid tale that gets sleazier every moment.”

“We all got fired.” He admitted. Was that important?

“Wait.” Maria held up a hand. “You got the whole department fired?”

“Whose side are you on?” Michael asked. Unbelievable! She was spending too much damn time with Max. “I didn't get everybody fired. We all drank of the Snapple.”

“Wait, ‘drank of the Snapple.’ When did we get on biblical terrain here?”

“I'm not going to take the blame for this whole thing.”

“Okay, how about you take your portion of the blame.”

“It wasn’t a big deal!”

“Obviously it was! You got them all fired.”

Michael made a face. “I’m not taking the whole blame here, Maria.”

“But it's your fault. You acted irresponsibly. Now everyone's unemployed.”

Now she was just being unreasonable. When did she get so thick headed? “I gotta get some fresh air.” She was supposed to be on his side.

Maria watched him leave. “Oh, honey?” She called after him. “Think you can pick me up a few cases of Snapple?” Michael slammed the door on his way out. “Unbelievable.” Maria said drinking the ill-gotten Snapple. Seeing what she was doing, she frowned at the drink.

~~~

Michael walked for a while shaking his head. So maybe he had taken things a little too far. Maybe he did turn his work place into his own private social club, but who said there was anything wrong with liking to go to work? So the Snapple was perhaps a tad bit on the overboard side, but it wasn’t like the first time he stole things. He used to steal food all the time when he was growing up with Hank. If he didn’t find food, he starved. Oh course, he wasn’t starving currently or even thirsty, but the opportunity had been there, and a lifetime of conditioning was hard to break.

Michael stopped at the jewelry store to stare at his purchase. Six more payments. Walking back he saw a ‘Help Wanted’ sign in the MiniMart. Going in to fill out an application and pick Maria up a box of milk duds, he was surprised to see Steve filling out an application.

“Steve.” Michael greeted his friend reluctantly with Maria’s words still ringing in his ears.

“Hey.” Steve said glancing up from his application.

“Sorry about what happened.” Michael apologized. “I didn't know Karl would blow a gasket like that.”

“It's over. So …” Steve shrugged.

“You applying for the clerk job?”

“Apparently.”

“Isn't it like half as much as much as we were making at Meta-Chem?”

Steve sighed. “Gotta feed the wife and kids.”

“Yeah, really.” Michael nodded, but then he paused, a frown moving over his face. “That's an expression, right? Feed the wife and kids?”

Steve laughed shaking his head. “Didn't you see the picture on my desk? Cheryl? The kids?”

“Yeah. I guess, but I thought she was your girlfriend. And I thought the kids were your brother and sister or your … your nephew.”

Steve finished up passing the application over to the day manager. “I've gotta get over to Burger Hut. There's a job working the drive-thru.” Steve nodded to Michael. “See you, Mike.”

Michael scratched his eyebrow. “Hey, Steve.” The man turned back to him. “I'm sorry, man.”

“That doesn't help me, Mike.”

~~~

Kyle was sitting at the counter eating when Isabel came up and took a seat next to him. He had noticed Liz running around, and a whacked out Alien picture on the wall suddenly with cartoon words about being in the kitchen, he just assumed it was Max being … an alien.

Speaking to aliens, Kyle said, “Hey,” when Isabel joined him.

“Hello. You're probably wondering what you saw in the convenience store the other day.”

Kyle lifted a brow. Hmm. Her macking on an older man. What was to wonder about? “Nah. A stone unobserved is a stone …”

“Is this Buddhist?”

“Yes.”

“Could you not?”

“'Kay.” Kyle took a bit of his meal.

“Thank you.” Isabel said pleasantly enough actually smiling. “His name is Jesse Ramirez. He's my boyfriend.”

“Correct me if I'm wrong, but haven't I seen that guy leaving your father's office?”

“Yeah. He works for my father.”

“As an assistant?” Kyle guessed.

Laughing a bit self conscious, Isabel said, “As a lawyer.”

“So he's, like … twenty-two, twenty-three?”

“Twenty-six.” Isabel admitted.

“Twenty-six?! That's a problem.” Yeah, with Isabel barely legal and the old guy macking on the boss’s almost underage daughter. Kyle made a snorting noise, getting more and more into this conversation.

“Well, uh … just out of curiosity, have you …?” Kyle cleared his throat and lowered his voice. “Have you … told Jesse about your secret identity?”

“No.” Isabel shook her head emphatically. “No. Max and Michael would never agree to letting anybody else in on the secret. I guess the truth of the matter is I sort of love Jesse not knowing. It's … like we're this normal couple.”

Kyle sighed. “Nothing's ever easy, is it?”

“Nope. But, hey, I'm actually glad that you found out. It's kind of nice to talk about it.” Isabel got up to leave.

“No problem.” He lived to serve. His rewards would be numerous in his next life.

“And Kyle … if you tell anybody, I'll be forced to use my formidable alien powers on you.”

“Cool. Cool. My day's never truly complete until my life's been threatened by an alien, so …”

“No problem. Ok, bye.”

Kyle chuckled, but then he turned to stop her before she could leave. “Wait, wait, wait. Um … good for you. I mean, Max has Liz, and Michael has Maria, and you never really had that, so … good for you.”

“Thanks, Kyle.”

~~~

“So where is Maria?” Max asked.

“I don’t know. She was gone when I got back.” Michael made a face. “I hate it, but I think I actually disappointed her.”

Max and Michael stared two cases of Snapple that Michael bought. “So you're gonna return the Snapple?”

“Yeah.”

“You think that's gonna get you your job back?” Max asked out of curiosity.

“You got a better idea?”

“Why don't you just go get more hours at the Crashdown?”

“Because that's not what it's about, Max.” Michael told him. “It's about the principle of it.”

“You stole the Snapple, Michael. How could it be about principle?”

Michael sighed not liking this, not one bit. “Because it's not fair to ruin one person's life over a few bottles of Snapple.”

“And this is ruining your life?” Max asked surprised that Michael would care.

“Not mine. This guy at work, Steve.” Michael explained. “He's a killjoy, and he got fired along with the rest of us. Turns out he's got a wife and kids.”

“I see.”

“Which isn't my fault,” Michael quickly added. “I mean, why should I worry about it? If he takes it upon himself to marry someone and then knock her up before he's got a decent job, how is that my problem?”

“It isn't.”

Michael sighed staring at the evil Snapple. Maria loved Snapple. “So why do I feel like this?”

“Like what?”

Sighing, Michael shook his head, hating how he felt. “I don't know.”

“Like you care?” Max hazarded.

“Yeah. It's weird. See, there's you and Isabel, and you guys are like family … familiar. And then there's Maria, and she's …” Michael stopped. He couldn’t find the words, not ones he could say to Max, especially not before he ever said them to Maria. “Ah, she's Maria.” Max hid a smile as Michael’s voice gave away more than he knew just in saying the name. “And besides that, I've never had this feeling. She makes me feels things, do things,” Michael ran a hand through his hair. “She makes me … undone. But these guys …” Michael didn’t want to hurt Max’s feelings, but there was so much more to his relationship with these guys. “It's cool. We can hang, and we talk, and we laugh, and it's like, uh … They're …”

“Friends.”

“Something like that.” Maria was the first real non-alien friend he ever made, but even then, there was a whole range of difference between his friendship with Maria and the Guys. He never had ‘pals’ before. “Anyway, I gotta go.”

“Wait. Uh … You're gonna return them now?”

Michael picked up the two cases of Snapple. “Yeah. I'm gonna break in and put the Snapple back behind the fridge.”

“Oh. And then what?” The plan didn’t sound to well thought out. “Did you ask Maria for help on this plan?”

“No. I can do this. I put it back, then I'm gonna call 'em, and I'm gonna tip 'em off. Anonymously. And when they realize that nobody stole the Snapple and it was all just a big misunderstanding, they have no choice but to give our jobs back.”

“Michael, what you're about to do is not a plan. It's not an idea. It's something you think about in your mind, and then you come up with something … better.”

“Yeah. I don't have anything better.” Michael glanced at the time. “Look if Maria comes back, will you tell her to just wait?”

“Can’t. I have plans I need to take care of. Me and Liz, we’re illegally meeting tomorrow night at midnight. I broke into the Crashdown kitchen to talk to her early today.”

“Happy for you. Sure. Got to get it where you can.” Michael said quickly before Max offered too many details. He already felt bad enough. “Well if you see Maria …”

“I’ll tell her.”

“Right.”

Michael got outside before he realized it wouldn’t work. Stashing his Snapple in his back area, he got on his bike.

~~~

“Hey.” Michael called from Maria’s doorway.

“Hey.” She didn’t look up from where she was painting her toenails on the bed. “You didn’t ring the doorbell.”

“Nope. Just used my key.”

“You don’t have a key.” Maria reminded him knowing full well he didn’t need one.

“Sure I do. Your mom gave it to me.”

Maria looked up at him. “Yeah, my mom. I’m beginning to find this relationship you have with my mom a little creepy.”

“Yeah, but you’ll get over it. You’re an only child. It’s not in your nature to share.”

“Like it’s in your nature to steal.”

Michael sighed. He tossed her Milk Duds on the bed next to her as a peace offering.

Maria glanced at them. “Did you steal them?” Michael gave her a look. Maria quickly swept them up and hid them before he could take them back. “Look, I’m being pretty mealy mouthed about this since we break into free movies all the time, but stealing from your job … it’s this, God! I don’t know? A trust thing between you and the employer?”

“If I tell you that you’re right and I was wrong, and that I want to fix it … make amends, will you cut me some slack and help me?”

“Okay, say it.” Maria ordered lounging back waiting for him to tell her how he was wrong, and she was right.

“Maria …”

“Fine! What do you want me to do?”

~~~

Michael used his powers to unlock the doors, allowing himself and Maria into the lab. Using her Jetta, they transported the Snapple back to Meta-Chem. It was easy to by-pass the security since he knew how it worked, and Karl was the only one on duty. While putting the Snapple back, they almost got caught by Karl. Pushing Maria back against the wall, they watched Karl take something out of a vault and pass it to a guard.

“Karl's a thief.” Michael whispered to Maria.

“Takes one to know one,” Maria tightened her hands on Michael. “Takes one to catch one too,” she suggested with a knowing look in her eye.

Michael glanced down at her as he caught that look. She had a plan.

“That’s my girl!” he said smiling.

~~~

Michael was standing in the doorway leading to his backyard, or what could be considered a backyard while the other guards, Fly, George and Monk were playing  foosball.

“How's he getting away with it? Every square inch of the place is being taped 24-7,” Fly said hitting the ball.

George made a snorting noise as the ball sank for a score. “Think, little man. Karl's got the master security card, so he can turn the cameras on and off whenever he feels like it.”

Monk, who was watching the game, took a drink of the Snapple, “What do you think he was stealing?”

“I didn't get a good look at it,” Michael confessed, “but they do all kinds of genetic research in that lab.”

“I bet it was the cancer vaccine.” Monk told them. “All the big corporations have one just sitting on the shelf doing nothing. They don't put it on the market, 'cause there's too much money in cancer treatment, you know? Same thing with AIDS, tuberculosis, Legionnaires' disease, measles, scabies...”

George made a face at his friend. “Monk, are you wasted, man?”

“No. Maybe. Leave me alone.” Monk had grievances. Major ones. “You don't know what it's like workin' at Burger Hut. Fries, no fries, extra ketchup, no ketchup. I need an escape.”

Maria walked into the apartment, and all the boys stood up straighter. They smiled at her, and Michael shook his head when George sucked in his gut. “Hi, Maria!” They greeted her in unison.

“Boys, brought you sustenance.” Maria put the takeout on the counter. “Man can’t live on illegal Snapple alone, that is unless you’re Spaceboy.”

Michael ignored that remark and walked over to check out the hot food, easily moving Maria to the side. “It doesn't matter what's in the vial. What matters, is that Meta-Chem's head of security is stealing from the company. We expose him, show the company that the man who fired us is the actual thief, and we got a chance of getting our jobs back.”

Monk smiled at Maria when she handed him a plate. “How do we get the goods on Karl?” he asked digging into the food.

“We catch him in the act,” Michael answered him between bites as Maria reached around him for his Snapple.

“What, break in?” Fly asked as he went through the containers to find something not too spicy. Maria handed him a simple dish of chicken with broccoli.

“Thanks, Maria.”

“You’re welcome, Fle … Fly.”

Michael frowned at the boys flirting with Maria. “Maria, come over here.” He gave Fly a glare.

“I’m fine. I’ll eat over here.”

“You’ll be more comfortable over here,” Michael looked at the others. “Make space!” They all moved so Maria could have a seat. Once Michael had her away from the adoring attentions of the other men, he went back to Maria’s plan … um, his plan. “Yeah we break in.”

George held up his hands. “No, see, that sounds a bit too risky for a black man.”

“What does Steve say?” Monk asked noted the one other member of their crew that was absent.

“He didn't return my phone calls.” Michael confessed.

That did it for Monk. “Well, you guys do what you want, but you can count me out.”

“I'm with Monk.” George said. Breaking into Meta-Chem, a black man … that was riskier than watching a game on the monitor or playing poker.

“Me, too, Chico.” Fly said jumping on the bandwagon.

Maria stopped eating to share a look with Michael. He gestured for her to convince them. “Me? Uh-uh. Your party. Your Snapple hi-jinx. I’ll help, but this is your job to get their help.”

Traitor. Michael sighed, “Do you guys know why we were fired?”

“Yeah.” Fly said between bites. “Cause you took the Snapple, dude.”

Michael waved off his duplicity. “No, who fires an entire shift over Snapple?” They didn’t answer. “Nobody.” Michael waited for it to connect, but since it didn’t, he continued, “Karl needed to fire an entire security shift so he could steal whatever it is he's stealing from the company. We were easy targets. That's why we were fired. Karl made us out to look like incompetent fools, and that's what the world's gonna think of us if we don't do something about it.” Michael warmed on his subject. “Used to be I didn't care about that. Turns out I do. So, yeah, we stole the Snapple. But you know what? We did our jobs well. And that's why I say we have no choice here but to screw Karl.”

Fly stopped eating. He liked that idea. “All right. I'm with you. Let's screw Karl.”

“I'm there,” George said. Hell, wasn’t like he had a job to lose anymore.

Monk was the last. “Screw Karl, man.” Then seeming to realize his language, he blushed at Maria. “Um, sorry.” Maria just smiled at him and pushed more food his way.

“So …” George looked at Michael, and then at Maria. “What's the plan?”

~~~

Michael laid it out. “Ever since he fired us, Karl's been working the nights all alone. The longer he delays hiring a new crew, the more freedom he has. But the truth is, one man can’t watch everything.”

“How do you know he isn’t hiring new crew members?” George asked. Sounded like speculation to him.

Maria cleared her throat. “I sort of found out. I got a friend to apply for a job. He’s highly qualified and needs a source of employment.” She had to do some serious sweet talking to get Sheriff … um, Jim Valenti to apply. It seemed that he had already lined himself up a new gig singing in a band called the Kit Shickers at the Cow Patty. It took some work, and a promise to sing with him a few times cover songs to get the job done.

“So I take it Karl wasn’t hiring?” Monk guessed.

“No. He told the ex-Sheriff of Roswell that Meta-Chem currently had no open positions.” Maria informed the men. They all shared a look.

“Oh! We are definitely screwing Karl!” George said.

Fly giggled slightly nervous, but actually more giddy over the caper. “He is goin’ down!”

“It’s not going to be a cake walk.” Michael informed the others. “The trick will be to make him think everything's right on schedule, that nothing has changed ... When in reality everything has changed. He's not alone tonight. Tonight he's got the entire graveyard shift to deal with.” Michael glanced over at his partner in crime. “Maria, the floorplan!”

Maria went over and pushed up half of the ping pong table upright to reveal a floorplan that she and Michael had worked on late last night after returning the Snapple.

“We got a few high power cameras that can be accessed into the security system, but we need someone that can do the computer work and hook up.” Maria said showing them the left over cameras from a previous FBI incursion on the alien group. Alex had always been their wire man.

“I can do that,” Monk told her. “I know electronics.”

“Thank you, Monk.” Maria handed him the devices.

“I can help too,” Fly quickly offered smiling at Maria while Monk made a comment about how sweet the electronic camera was.

“Are you coming with us?” George asked Maria.

“No, she is not. So back off!” Michael said sharply, irritated by the other men. “So we use the cameras, put them in place, and catch him.”

“In place?” George wasn’t sure he got how to do that.

“Yeah, I’ll put them in place. I’m going to move along the duct system inside the artificial ceiling. Once we have him we can turn in the information and get our jobs back.”

“There is still the problem of the Snapple,” Monk reminded them.

“Not any longer,” Maria said. “Last night late we returned the missing Snapple to the kitchen. After you nail Karl for theft, you can assert that Karl framed you for the theft so he could remove you from your posts making it easier for him to steal from the company.”

“We’ll be heroes!” Fly said with something akin to awe in his voice.

Michael looked at the others. “So is it a go?”

“I’m a go!” Fly said.

“Go,” agreed George and Monk.

Michael pointed at Maria. “And you are to stay away from this until it is finished. I don’t need you in trouble too. We have a reason to be on property, but you’d be a trespasser.”

Maria glanced at the four men. “Technically, so will you,” she pointed out.

“Maria.”

“Fine, Spaceboy. I’m outta here. I’ll let you get everything ready.” Maria kissed him on the cheek. “Just promise me you will not get shot or killed by a maniac thief or a stray bullet.”

“Promise. Now go.”

“Be careful, Commander.” Maria whispered before she squeezed his arm and waved at the guys before letting herself out of the apartment. The guys all watched her go.

“Isn’t it sweet how she calls him Spaceboy?” Fly said. The others agreed.

“Can you concentrate?” Michael asked. “We need to be tight.”

~~~

Meta-Chem was easy to break into. They used an access card to the main gate that Monk had forgotten to return. Michael used his powers to discretely redirect the security cameras from where they waited until the Karl would be on rounds.

“He should take the east section first. We go quickly and quietly. Monk, you and Fly get to the security monitors and hook up the feed to the camera.” Michael glanced at his two friends. “VCR tape?” Monk held it up. “Good man. George will be my lookout.”

They quickly synchronized their watches and at the moment that Karl would be outside of the security booth, they opened the security door. Or they would’ve opened it if the key card that opened the outside gate would work. It didn’t.

George swore under his breath. “They must have rekeyed the internal locks, but not the gate.”

“Give it here.” Michael took the card, he stood blocking the others’ view, moving his hand across the security panel. The door clicked open. “It must have not read the original swipe. C’mon.” The men split up with Monk and Fly hurried to their old security area and George and Michael went to the lab Karl had been stealing from. Before they made the corridor, George ducked into a side area helping to give Michael a boost up into the ceiling.

“Careful, Chico. Don’t get on the ceiling tiles or you’ll fall through.”

“Right!”

Michael was crawling slowly and carefully in the ceiling crawl space keeping his weight on the support beams and not the artificial ceiling tiles. Stopping in the place where he observed Karl the night before, he moved a tile aside. Michael used the remote camera to film Karl stealing. He tried to hold it steady with one hand while holding his body off the ceiling tiles.

In the guard’s room Monk had the camera access tied into the security monitors. “Got the shot.” He told Fly as he hit the record button.

Fly stared at the taping machine as it started to make a whirling noise. Ejecting the tape he called to Monk. “Problem, dude.” Fly held up the half eaten tape still trapped in the VCR.

“Well, hurry up and fix it, man.” Monk told him as he flipped the other monitors to see where Karl was. The phone next to him rang. Fly shook his head at Monk to not answer it, but Monk answered it anyway. “Hello?”

“This is the Sheriff Hanson.. We received a signal that the security system had been tampered with.”

“Nope.” Monk assured the Sheriff, “Everything's ok here.”

“What's the password today?”

“Password?” Monk said as Fly threw up his hands.

Karl finished taking the vial and was getting ready to leave when a creaking in the ceiling drew his attention. Looking up, he stepped back as Michael fell through.

Michael coughed as he laid in a pile of broken tiles and dust wincing at the bruise on his hip from where he hit the floor. “Hey, Karl.”

“Gweerin, what the hell are you doing?”

“It's Guerin,” Michael corrected his ex-boss. “I just thought I'd drop in.”

“You know, I wonder if the police are gonna think you're so funny.”

“Go ahead and call 'em. I have a nice videotape to show 'em.”

Karl’s jaw firmed. “What are you talking about?”

“I got you breaking into the lab, stealing a sample, and passing it off to the janitors.” Michael informed the older man.

“Well, that's too bad. If you hadn’t said it was gonna be your word against mine, I could have just thrown cuffs on you and called the cops, but I guess it's not gonna be that simple.” Karl took out his gun and pointed it at Michael who held up his hand. He saw George coming around the corner, then ducking back out of sight rushing off to get help for Michael. “Where is that videotape?”

Michael needed time. “You got to think about what you're doing, Karl.”

“I know exactly what I'm doing. I'm confronting an intruder in the middle of the night. And fearing for my own safety and believing the intruder to be armed, I drew my weapon, and I was forced to shoot him.”

“I'm not alone, you know. I got help.”

Karl laughed shaking his head. “I don't think so. I think you are here alone, and I think you're gonna tell me where that videotape is right away!” Karl moved the gun threatening.

“Ok, ok, ok! I'll tell you,” said Michael as he rose a bit to his knees, his hands still in the air. “Ok, the tape … The tape … Is in …” Michael glanced up, and using his power to pull down more of the ceiling he threw himself to the ground covering up as it fell on them. Karl dropped the gun, but in a quick scramble he got it back. Aiming it at Michael again, he prepared to shoot but the Sheriff’s voice behind him stopped him.

“Now, what I want you to do right now is put the gun down nice and slow.” Hanson ordered. Karl slowly complied. “Good. Now, we're all gonna take a trip down to the station.”

“Before we do that, there's a videotape you should see.” Michael told Hanson.

Everyone was in the control room, and the tape was out of its case all messed up.

Hanson looked at the mess after hearing the ex-guards explanation. “Well, boys, if this is all you got, it ain't much.”

“Let me take a look at that.” Michael offered. He turned his back on the others and using his powers to rewind and fix the tape.

“These clowns are disgruntled former employees who broke in and stole company property,” Karl informed Hanson.

Michael interrupted handing the tape to Hanson. “Uh, you know what? I think I got it.”

Fly stared at the tape in amazement as Hanson put it into the VCR hitting play. “Hey, how'd you do that?”

“I used to work in a video store,” Michael lied.

Hanson watched for a few moments before staring at Karl. “I'm not gonna say anything without an attorney,” Karl informed the cop. Hanson gestured to his deputies to restrain Karl.

“Don't worry, Karl,” Michael called to his ex-boss. “We'll let management know what happened.” The guys laughed as they watched Karl being cuffed.

“I'm gonna need statements from all you guys, but we shouldn't leave this plant unguarded all night.” Hanson informed the security detail.

“No problem,” said Michael. “We'll finish our shift, come down to the station.”

“Fine. See you in the morning.” Hanson told the men as he joined his deputies and giving Karl his Miranda rights on the way out. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you …”

The guards congratulated Michael and each other as they watched their boss being taken away, and they got another chance with their job. “Yeah! Yeah! Good work, huh? Good work. Good work.”

~~~

“Hey,” Maria said as she took a barstool next to Kyle.

“Maria?” Kyle looked around her to find Michael. “What are you doing here? You alone?”

“Yep. You could say that.” Maria waved at the bartender. “Sprite with lime, please.”

“No beer?”

Maria flashed her stamp declaring her underage. “Carded me at the door. What? I don’t look legal?” She was peeved. They weren’t carding anyone else. Maybe the cotton candy lip gloss was a mistake?

“I think if you had Michael at your side you could pass easier.” Kyle glanced around. “So where is he?”

“Oh, one of two places. He’s either reinstated at his job or gracing a jail cell. Hard to say until he uses his one call on me.”

“So what are you doing here?”

“Came to see your father. He sort of did me a favor earlier, so I thought I’d come support him. It’s the way it works.”

“Right.” Kyle drank his drink. “I’m here for the same reason. I blew up at him earlier when he told me he was going to do this.”

“Hmmm.”

“Hmmm?” Kyle inquired.

“You don’t approve?”

“Sure. He can knock himself out having fun, but I really need him to remember he’s the father, you know? I mean I’m working my ass off at the garage, and I hate it, then I come home to see him wasting away on the sofa. Mortgage company is threatening to take our home, bills everywhere and no money coming in except my job.”

Maria turned sympathetic eyes on Kyle. She knew what he was saying. She had seen that road too many times with her mom, and even now, she was sort of walking it with Michael. “It’s been tough on you and your family.”

“Yeah.” Kyle took a drink. “Thing is … he doesn’t hold Max or the rest of them responsible. He would give up anything because he thinks he owes them me. Max saved my life, and nothing will ever repay him that.”

“Your life was endangered by…”

“No. Doesn’t work that way. My dad pushed to know the truth. Hounded everyone until he knew. Max and the others, they never asked for my dad to know. They never asked for his help. He walked into it on his own accord, and he blames himself for my involvement, not Max. So Max literally fixed a mistake my dad thinks he made by risking me.”

Maria squeezed Kyle arm. “I’m sorry, Kyle.”

“Doesn’t matter. We’ll survive. We survived my mom leaving, and we’ll survive this.” Both Maria and Kyle turned as the band tuned up. Maria smiled as Jim came out to the mic. He looked happy.

“Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I'm Jim Valenti, and we are the Kit-Shickers.”  Kyle groaned motioning to the waitress for a beer.

“Are you 21?”

“Does it matter in here?” Kyle asked ignoring Maria’s amused chuckle.

“All that matters in here is paying rent on that bar stool.” The waitress informed him. Stools were for paying … tipping customers.

“Just--just give me a coke.” Kyle told her grimacing when the mic had feedback. “I may need that beer after all.”

“It’ll be okay,” Maria reassured him. “Just relax.”

Kyle covered his eyes. “I can’t watch.” God! His father had so many setbacks of late. This one could be the end of it all. Jim started to sing, and Kyle waited for it … the booing, the jeers, and the demand for return of cover charges, but it didn’t come. The crowd started to get into the music, and Kyle started to slowly look around as he noticed the crowd clapping to the music. He started to clap too, joining in as he finally glanced at the stage and watched his father.

~~~

Max brought Liz home after a midnight date where he took her flying to mimic her dream of them flying together like Superman and Lois Lane. Laughing, Liz said goodnight as she went upstairs not daring to invite Max with her. Max watched until she went through the door. He turned to leave, but a voice stopped him.

“Did you have fun?” Jeff Parker asked from where he sat in the dark half of the room. “Where you been?” Jeff stood and came into the light. “I'm asking you man to man where you took my daughter in the middle of the night. Be man enough to answer me.”

“We went to the desert.” Max told Mr. Parker quickly defending their actions. “We didn't do anything wrong.”

“It was wrong for you to see her at all. You know that.”

“I'm sorry. I love her.” Max told the man as if that justified all his and Liz’s actions.

“I don't give a damn about your love.” Jeff told Max. “Because of you, my daughter was arrested for armed robbery. She could've been killed. Did you ever think about that?” Max remained silent, but his jaw flexed as he clenched his teeth. “Tell me you're not dangerous, Max. Tell me that being with you doesn't put my little girl's life in jeopardy.”

Max continued silence spoke volumes, more so than any words.

“Yeah. That's what I thought. So now this is gonna stop. It's gonna stop right now, and you are never to see Liz again. And if you do … If I find out that you so much as sat next to her in class, she'll be on the next plane to Vermont.”

“Vermont?”

“The Winnaman Academy. It's an all-girls boarding school, and her mother and I filled out all the paperwork, and the application was accepted. So all I've got to do is write a check and put Liz on the next plane.”

“You would do that?” Max asked in disbelief. “You would do that just …”

“… just to keep her away from you?” Jeff finished for Max. “Yes, I would. And I will. Good-bye, Max.”

~~~

Maria was waiting outside in the Jetta when Michael, Monk, Fly and George walked out of the Roswell PD. They were talking and laughing as they did some bizarre men’s handshake thing. Maria lifted an eyebrow at the ritualistic weaving and bobbing scratching her brow. Now why didn’t she and Michael have a secret secret handshake?

Michael saw the Jetta and came over getting inside after waving one last time. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself.” Maria started the engine. “I take it that since you only requested I pick you up and not post bail that Karl went down, and you and the Guys ruled supreme?”

“Absolutely! We caught the bad guy, and got our jobs back.”

“Uh-huh.” Maria pulled into traffic. She stopped at the red light. “You realize that despite putting back the Snapple, you were still wrong to begin with.”

“Maria, that is water... Why don’t we just let it flow on down the road?”

“Why do we not,” Maria pulled into a Krispy Kreme. “Look, I know you feel good, justified, but the truth is you felt bad for a reason. You made your job, their job a joke … a playground. It was wrong, because it risked the livelihood of others.”

“I made amends.”

“You did. I’m proud of you, that you went the extra mile when you didn’t have to, but …”

“But there is an object lesson here. Is that it?”

“Perhaps, if you learned it.”

Michael sat back in the passenger seat. “Yeah, the guys put me on Snapple probation. I get it. No more stealing from the job, not time, and not Snapple.” Sighing, he looked at Maria. “Well?”

Maria smiled shaking her head. Maybe he didn’t understand the difference. There had been no one to teach him morality, or the shades between right and wrong. And yet, despite whatever deficits he inherited from growing up in a home lacking in nurture he still chose to do the right thing. One thing she trusted in was that when he felt bad, he followed his heart and made amends.

“You did good.”

Michael visibly relaxed and smirked at her. “Now that I’m in money again, I’m going to buy you breakfast!” Maria looked at the donut shop. “No! Real breakfast with your favorite things … fried pork!”

“That’s your favorite thing,” she reminded him starting the car again.

“What, you don’t eat half my bacon?” It was a good morning. “Hey, I need to make a quick stop first.”

Maria stayed in the Jetta while Michael went up to a small house and rang the doorbell. Steve opened the door in his pajamas and a robe. The man seemed confused to see Michael, and when Michael handed him his badge, Steve stared at it.

“Got your job back,” Michael told the older man.

“What?”

“Yeah, we broke into Meta-Chem, and we nailed Karl for stealin' stuff. He's in jail.”

“Wait, slow down.” Steve told the impulsive youth. “You broke in?”

“Yeah. Found out he was a crook, and we nailed him for it--not just me. Everyone. George, Monk, Fly.”

“You could have gotten arrested. Why'd you do that?” Steve couldn’t figure this kid out.

Michael shrugged. “I don't know. I figured it's my first real job, I'm starting my life, and … You know, I don't want to start off on the wrong foot.”

“I'm not sure whether to say thank you or tell you you're a real idiot for doing something so risky.”

“Say thank you.”

“Thank you, Michael,” Steve told him genuinely touched. “This means a lot to me and, uh, you know … to my family.”

“No problem.” Michael went to leave and let the man get back to his family.

“Hey, listen, um …” Michael was a good guy, someone he could get to really like to be around. “Maybe we can hang sometime, you know, after work.”

“Sure,” Michael smiled and nodded.

Steve glanced at the badge in his hand. “You're a crazy bastard. You know that?”

Michael looked over at Maria in the Jetta applying very shiny lip gloss while she was singing to the radio. “Welcome to my world.”

Significant Others……

Isabel stared at a picture of Jesse after getting ready for bed. Smiling she remembered the movie they went to that the night, and the talk they had afterwards. Lying back, she touched the picture of herself and Jesse and entered Jesse’s dream. In his dreams, Jesse was proposing marriage to her.

“Oh, my god! Oh, my god!” Isabel cried, shocked at Jesse’s dream. It was hard to say what startled her the most, that he proposed to her, or that she actually said yes.

Unable to shake the dream she intruded on, the next day while shopping, Isabel stopped to stare into a store display of diamond engagement rings.

“I go away for a couple of days, and you're looking at wedding rings.” Alex said next to her.

Isabel glanced at him, her eyes softening. “Alex. Where have you been? I've missed you.”

“If only you loved me this much when I was alive,” said Alex remorsefully.

“Alex.”

Alex scoffed holding up his hands. “I'm kidding. I'm kidding.” Alex followed Isabel down the street. “You've only known this guy a few months, Isabel.”

“Alex, I can’t really talk to you about guys.”

“I'm dead. I'm beyond getting jealous.” Alex pointed out.

“All right,” Isabel turned to him. “Well, I guess the truth is I’ve never felt this way before. This is the first time I’ve met someone I can see being with for the rest of my life.”

“Ouch, that stings a little bit.” Alex admitted. How soon they forget. Sniffing, Alex the ghost wondered if his hair was standing straight up.

~~~

Liz came up to the window. “Chili and a hot dog,” she snapped at her father. Maria made a slight gagging noise. What some people ate for breakfast was disgusting. Now a hamburger? That she could understand.

“No fries?” Jeff asked his daughter.

“Did I say fries?” Liz’s voice was hard and sarcastic.

Maria quickly put in her order for another table to diffuse the situation. “Scrambled, bacon, buttered toast.”

“You got it.” Jeff went to work both orders.

Maria sighed at Liz. “You know, I work here, too.”

“Good.” Liz said bitterly. “Maybe we could stage a revolt, burn down the kitchen, and free the slaves.”

“You're making life impossible.” For everyone, Maria thought.

“Well, he could fire me.” Liz suggested.

“Or I could kill you.” Maria offered helpfully. Hey, she was a friend. Mercy killing wasn’t beneath her. She could happily Kevorkian Liz in a heartbeat.

Liz snorted. “See, you're too late for that, because I'm working, like, ninety hours a week, which means I can’t go anywhere or do anything. And you know, I'm probably gonna be dead from grease fumes by the end of the week.” Liz’s face turned dark as her voice became bitter. “And I'm under constant threat of being sent to boarding school.”

Maria grabbed her order. “Could it possibly be that you and Max robbed a convenience store? Or maybe it was going out on a forbidden date?” Maria suggested as she took the cups, coffee, and an order for another table.

“We didn't actually rob it.” Liz called after her.

Maria gave Liz a look. “I don’t know? Holding a gun on a man, even if all that was taken was a bag of Cheetos, sounds like something serious, Liz.”

“Maria, you know …” Why was she being this way? Maria knew she and Max weren’t really robbing the place.

“Yes, yes, I do. But,” Maria gestured to Liz’s father, “he doesn’t. He just knows what he knows. His once near perfect daughter started wearing biker clothes, bad makeup, and holding up convenience stores with her boyfriend. You think he’s happy to see his little princess now a cheap rip-off of Bonnie and Clyde?”

“The makeup wasn’t bad. I thought I looked good.”

“How about sneaking out after midnight to go hang-gliding with said boyfriend after he has been declared off limits, and you are grounded? It’s one thing to do it, it’s another thing to get caught.” Maria loved her friend, but she was so far from the Liz Parker of old it was astounding. “You break the rules, you pay the price. We all know that.”

“He can’t tell me how to live my life!”

Maria laughed. Unreal! “Yes, yes he can! You’re seventeen. You live under his roof, and believe it or not, he is the parent. He can tell you exactly what you can do or cannot do, because it’s his job to raise you and keep you safe.”

“You’re not being helpful here, Maria.” Why wasn’t Maria on her side? She always supported her. “It’s easy for you. Your mom is gone, and Michael doesn’t have to ask anyone’s permission to do anything. You go wherever you want, whenever, whether it’s Las Vegas, Texas, Daytona, or Hawaii. I guess since you have all the freedom you want, you can’t understand how hard this is for me and Max.”

“First, my mother knew about Vegas, because I told her. I told her about Texas as well, and whenever I go to concerts … she knows. Hawaii, Michael and I didn’t go alone. My mother wouldn’t let us, so that’s why she and Sean came too.” Maria shook her head. “I’m sorry that your life is such a blight with your nice home, money, two loving parents, and everything you could possibly want. I’m sorry that my lack of a mother, now that she’s in Las Cruces, and Michael’s orphaned state is something to envy.”

Maria walked away. Liz bit her lip. “Maria...”

Maria sighed as her working conditions deteriorated into a complete nightmare. Glancing at the doorway, she smiled when Michael came into the Crashdown for breakfast.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Michael kissed her cheek before she shoved him into the booth.

“Late night?”

“Endless.” Michael admitted feeling too tired. “Am I on the schedule here today?”

“No, you have school today.” Michael moaned. School. “Are you still okay for Saturday?”

“Sure. What's Saturday?”

Maria lifted smiled shaking her head. “We had plans. Concert, outside. Santa Fe? Does that ring a bell? You were taking off from work.”

“Just you and me?” Michael asked remembering. Date night. It was a date he made in his clandestine campaign to get her into thinking of him as a date. Sort of commando romance … just without the romance. “Right, and what -- what day is this?

“This is Thursday.” She reminded him. His week was so chopped up, she wasn’t even sure he knew what month it was. “You need sleep.”

“I need pancakes.” Michael stretched when Maria stroked his cheek leaning down to kiss him. He needed food. He needed a little time alone with Maria. Sleep. He wanted sleep, with her.

The rest of the graveyard shift finally caught up with Michael and his bike.

“You’re late, boys.” Maria told them moving aside so they could slide into Michael’s booth.

“Maria!” They all greeted her in unison, except Michael who actually stole the menus from her hand. Michael quickly moved out of the booth to let Fly and Steve in before sitting down so he could be on the outside.

“Sit! Lots of coffee coming up. I’ll be right back.” Maria went to grab the cups and a pot, but Michael pulled her back real quick before she took off. He stood up again to put himself between her and the guys.

“How bad is it?” he asked, gesturing to Liz and her father.

“I’m feeling suicidal.”

“Wow, that bad, huh?”

“Uh-huh.” Maria pushed him into the seat. “Sit. I’ll get coffee and warn the kitchen to start making pancakes.”

“Right.”

Maria went up to the window to order from Mr. Parker who was on the grill. “The boys are in from the night shift, Mr. P. You wanna toss on a ton of bacon and start some pancakes and at least two orders of French toast? I’ll have the orders up in a minute.”

“Gotcha, Maria. Hey, push the blueberry syrup. It’s getting old.” Maria nodded and took the cups and coffee back to the group. She quickly poured and set them down in front of the boys who were all talking at once.

“Hey, pancakes sound good. Make mine the same as Mike’s with lots of coffee, black.” Fly told Maria staring at her with adoring eyes. Michael elbowed him. Fly was being a real bug.

“Hey, sweetie, how you doin'?” George said smiling at Maria. “Give me eggs over easy, side of wheat, and the biggest glass of milk you got. Same with no butter, side of bacon, thank you.”

Monk didn’t even look at the menu. He knew what he wanted after eating breakfast there everyday for the last few months. “French toast.”

“Me, too, with sausage and bacon.” Steve told Maria handing her the menus.

“And, uh, orange juice for the table and water.” Monk asked politely.

Maria shook her head at the silly boy. “Who you talking to, Monk. I even put on an extra pot just for you guys.”

Michael caught Maria’s apron tie. “And keep the coffee coming for me. I need it.”

“You know, if you're planning on sleeping, you probably shouldn't have coffee.”

“If I’m going to make school, I’m going to need it intravenously.” Maria gave his tired face a serious look. “With cream, please?”

“You bet, Spaceboy.” Maria took all the menus back. “Okay, guys give me a few moments to have your orders and I’ll be right back with the water, juice and coffee.” She leaned over conspiratorially. “Give the blueberry syrup a miss. It’s old.”

Steve watched Maria take the orders and put them up as she began to put together the beverage tray. “Mike, any luck on getting her to be your girl officially?”

Michael shook his head. “I’m working on it. My work schedule between two jobs and school is killing my efforts. I went from practically sleeping with her every night to hardly seeing her but a few times during the week. Heck, she’s not even staying over at my place anymore. I think I’m going backwards.”

“You need help.” George concluded though in truth, he didn’t see what the matter was. Mike and Maria acted closer than he did to his girlfriend. Maria, she was great. “Look, maybe you need to turn on the old romance.”

“I’m taking her to an outdoor concert.”

“How are you getting there?” Fly asked.

“My bike. Michael groaned, “God! I can’t even remember if I bought the tickets. I better ask Maria to take care of it.”

Steve shook his head. “That’s a strike. When she has to do everything in the ‘date’ department, then it’s not a date. It’s two friends hanging out together.”

Michael watched Maria for a few moments as she was delivering an order to another table before coming back to pick up their drinks. “No, I don’t want that. I’ve got that down to an art form, and it’s what is making the transition so hard. I want her to stop thinking of me as her buddy, and you know … step it up a bit.”

Maria came back. “ETA on food is about five more minutes. I brought extra cream for coffee, refilled sugar for Fly, OJ all around, and water. Oh, and extra napkins for when you spill everything.” Maria checked the table out. “Anything else?” The men quickly and politely thanked her before she went of to serve other customers.

Fly watched her walk away checking out her legs. “Did you ever ask her to wear that uniform off duty?”

Michael hit the other guy upside the head. “Stop ogling my girl.”

“Hey, technically she’s not …”

“Yes, she is. She just hasn’t figured it out yet.”

~~~

“Hey,” Maria said to Isabel. “Can I help you?”

“Yeah, I'm just here to pick up an order.” Isabel glanced over when she heard men laughing, seeing Michael in the middle of the group.

“Is Michael laughing?”

“Apparently,” Maria said making a face. “He does that a lot. I think it starts in his stomach and just jumps out … startling.” She checked the early lunch order. “Do you want a drink with that?”

“No.” Isabel gave Maria a long look. Then she glanced over at Michael and then Maria again. “Um, can I ask you …?”

“A question?” Maria guessed.

“Mm-hmm.” Isabel said quickly looking at Michael before lowering her voice. “If Michael proposed, would you say yes?”

“Oh!” Maria dropped the plate she had been holding as her face paled. Michael's friends applauded, calling to Maria, and the crazy goofballs they were started doing the wave for her. Michael told them to cut it out, his eyes watchful of Isabel and Maria talking. “Is there something I should know?” Maria’s heart was beating erratically in her chest, and she was … yeah, she was having a heart attack.

“No. No, no, no.” Isabel quickly tried to cover her faux pas. God, if Michael found out, he would freak. Isabel frowned at Maria’s pale face. “It's just a survey for my sociology class at school,” she quickly lied.

Maria visibly relaxed. “Oh, so community college wants to know if I’d marry an alien?”

“Well, forget about the alien thing. Pretend it's not an issue. How long do you think the courtship should last before it's socially okay to get married?”

Maria seemed to give it some thought. “Well, is the couple in true, true love?”

“Well, let's say they hypothetically were.”

“Ok, well, did they know from the first time they met that they were supposed to be together?”

“Say they hypothetically did.”

Maria gave the entire scenario some real thought. “Ok, well, then my opinion is that, um,” taking a deep breath, “from the first second of the second minute, they're free to tie the knot.” Michael and the guys were laughing again and Maria glanced over at their antics. “But then again, I'm just a hopeless romantic.”

~~~

Michael caught up to Maria before leaving. He had a few hours to go take a nap before his afternoon classes. Thank god it was Thursday, and not a Monday, Wednesday or Friday. He would’ve been missing a class as he stood there.

“Hey, you okay?” Michael asked, his eyes moving over her. It felt like he hadn’t seen her in weeks.

“Sure, why wouldn’t I be?”

“You dropped that plate earlier and Isabel seemed to upset you.”

“Oh, that! It was nothing.” Maria pulled on his uniform. “You going home to change and nap?”

“Yeah, in a second.” He didn’t let her get off that easy. “So what did Isabel want?”

“Some sociology survey for college. She wanted to know if you asked me to marry you, what would I say.” Maria said, much calmer than she had been.

It was Michael’s turn to lose his color a bit. His voice was strangely hoarse. “That made you drop a plate, the thought of me proposing?”

“Nope.” Maria lied. “The thought of anyone proposing. I’m still seventeen. Give me a couple of months when I turn eighteen, then all hell breaks loose.”

“Right,” Michael smiled, but there was no amusement in his eyes. He was right, he was going backwards. He needed help.

~~~

Jesse Ramirez and Philip Evans walked back to the law offices from an early morning court session. Philip was curious about his newest and youngest law associate. Roswell was hardly the place for earth breaking law cases, and Jesse’s decision to settle into a small private law firm geared towards corporate law seemed uncharacteristic. Avoiding Philip’s questions, Jesse tried to channel the discussion away from his reasons for staying in Roswell when he was offered better jobs with more pay and higher prestige from firms in larger cities. Jesse wasn’t ready to tell his boss he was dating his daughter, so it was a surprise to open Philip’s office door to find that daughter, Isabel sitting on her father’s desk.

“Isabel.” Jesse said startled, and he quickly covered up his mistake. “Nice to see you again,” he said politely.

“Mr. Ramirez,” Isabel’s voice practically sang his name suggestively, “it's nice to see you again. Hi, dad.”

“Hi, Isabel,” Philip smiled somewhat confused. “Hey. What are you doing here?”

“Well, I had some time to kill, so I thought I’d bring you lunch.” Isabel held up the takeout order she brought from the Crashdown.

“Oh, Iz, that's wonderful. Oh, my little angel.” Philip was more than happy to break his diet his wife had him on.

“Um, cheeseburger and …” Isabel glanced in the bag faking surprise. “Oh, no, they screwed up the order.”

Philip’s face fell as his unexpected fatting lunch fell through. “What is that?”

“I think it's cucumbers, sprouts, and hummus on pita bread.” Isabel gave him the bad news.

“Oh, god, no.” Jesse swallowed a smile at Philip’s look of horror. He understood completely. He ate at the Evans house a few times, and Mrs. Evans newest health kick was in a word, disturbing.

Isabel made a face of sympathy. “Yeah, and lentil soup.”

“Oh …” Philip couldn’t take it. His taste buds were already revved for a cheeseburger or unhealthy fats. “Oh. I'm gonna go next door and get chicken wings. Huh, you guys want anything?”

Jesse motioned to the lunch Isabel brought. “I'll take that if you don't want it.”

“Ooh, you're a brave, brave man.” Philip was already practically out the door as chicken wings and deep fried mushroom called to him. “Ok, back in a minute.”

“That was clever.” Jesse told Isabel as soon as the door shut behind her father, his hands taking the lunch bag and putting it aside, as his arms went around her.

“I needed to speak to you alone.”

“In your father's office?” Jesse smiled lifting a brow. “It's risky. Sexy,” as he kissed the side of her neck.

“Jesse, I need to speak to you.”

Jesse pulled back his eyes moving over her beautiful face. “Yeah, me, too.”

“Jesse,” Isabel breathed in a long calming breath, “what I wanted to say is just that, you know, if we're gonna continue in this relationship, it needs to be about now. I can’t promise you tomorrow, and I just need you to understand that.”

“Oh.” Jesse’s eyes lost their smile.

“What were you gonna say to me?”

“Pretty much the opposite. Miss Evans, I want to-- I want to love you with the lights on.”

“Kinky.” Alex said. Isabel glanced at her friendly Casper, then at Jesse again.

“Metaphorically speaking. Look, even though we've only known each other a few months, I feel I really know you. I feel I know everything about you.” Jesse was serious, unshakably honest, he couldn’t lie to her that this wasn’t important to him, that he wasn’t seeing a definite future, and not just today. “And the thing is, I'm proud to know you. I'm proud to love you, and I want the world to know about it.” He didn’t know how else to get through to her except with the truth. “I don't -- I don't want to hide this anymore.”

“This guy's good.” Alex admitted wishing he had half of Jesse’s confidence in life.

~~~

“I’m cursed,” said Isabel tragically from where she sat with Alex on a bench waiting for the cross town bus.

Alex sighed, “Isabel.”

“I am. I am this cursed person.”

“You are not.”

Isabel made a sound of derision. “Look what happened to you-- you were killed by an alien. And then there was Grant, the only other guy I was semi-involved with, and he was killed by that ridiculous alien jellyfish thing.”

“It's like you said. Jesse had a dream, and dreams aren't real.” Alex should know since he was nothing more than a specter of her own dreams only held here by her memories and thoughts of him. “He isn't going to propose to you. It was just a thought passing through his head, so let it pass.”

~~~

Liz and Max were outside late. Liz once again was disobeying her father by sneaking out despite her being grounded, and seeing Max against her father’s expressed wishes.

“I want to move out.” Liz told Max as they walked together holding hands.

“And then what?”

“Move in together?” Liz suggested to him, upset that he wasn’t more enthusiastic about it. “Don't you want to?”

“I want to for the right reasons.” Max told her. He had gone this route once before, with Tess when they were expecting the baby. He looked for apartments, but even in that instance, it was still wrong. Choices should be made out of adult choices, real reasons, such as love, forever and a real future. They shouldn’t be made off the cuff out of desperate necessity.

“How 'bout being together?” Liz stopped and faced him. She needed this. She needed someone on her side, someone that would at least try to understand how she felt. “You know, we could just leave tonight and find someplace.”

“The cost's just too high.” Max said shaking his head. He wasn’t walking this road, not now, and not for Liz. She wasn’t thinking with her head, just with her heart and her anger.

“We'll get jobs.” Dammit, Michael and Maria did it every day, and they weren’t even together that way. Sure, they were in love, but it would take something earth shattering to wake them from their comfortable happy dream.

“Your family, Liz.” Max tried to explain to her. It wasn’t money. The cost was her relationship with her parents. “It would destroy your mom and dad.”

“They're destroying us.”

Max couldn’t believe he didn’t agree with her, that he saw her impassioned plea nothing more than an unrealistic teenage girl’s understanding of the world. No one could destroy them, no would could take their dreams, not if they didn’t want them to. “Liz …”

“They are, Max. Well, my father is, anyway.” Liz changed tactics. She couldn’t have Max against her too. “How am I supposed to help you find your child if I can’t even be with you?”

Max closed his eyes for a moment. He never wanted it like this. “You are with me … All the time. All the time.” Max and Liz continued to walk, and Max stared off into the night. He needed to find his son, but that was something that he should’ve never involved Liz in, or made her so unsure and insecure that she felt it was the only connect they could find. He made mistakes with Liz. He didn’t want to make any more.

~~~

Alex and Isabel were pacing in front of the theatre at noon. Isabel went one way, Alex the other. They were both deep in thought, talking about it … making plans.

“If he pulls a ring from his pocket, you can’t get all weak in the knees.” Alex told her. He needed to go. Some journeys in life were a solitary thing. This was one of them, as was death.

“Don't go.” Isabel begged him.

“No, you're on your own.” Alex told her meaning in more literal than she could imagine. “Eye of the tiger. You can do this. Just say no.” Alex looked beyond her at Jesse coming towards them. Isabel followed his glance, and when she looked back, Alex was gone.

“I thought we were supposed to meet in the balcony.” Jesse said confused by the expression on her face. “Aren't we being a little risky?”

“Hey.” Isabel greeted him shaking her head. “I can’t do this.”

Confused Jesse tried to understand to make sense of what was looking to become a highly irrational conversation. “Look, did something happen? Did someone find out?”

“No, and they never will.” Isabel started to walk off.

“Wait, wait.” Jesse hooked on her pulling her back. “Hold on. Hang on a second.”

“We're done.”

Oh that was not true. “Isabel we're just starting.”

“Don't call me.” She told him, “Don't try to see me.”

Jesse refused to let her go. “I need to know what happened. What changed?”

“Let me go.” Isabel hated that her voice was practically breaking, begging him to set her free. She wanted to be stronger than this. She needed to be strong.

“Just wait. Whatever happened, listen to me. Whatever happened, we'll get through it.”

Isabel was on the verge of tears. “We'll get through it if we're apart.”

“What does that mean, Isabel?” Jesse took her other arm and forced her to look at him, to look him in the eyes. “Look, you have to give me an explanation, ok? You owe me an explanation.”

“All right. Fine.” Isabel stiffened in his arms. She called on all the years of being the Ice Queen to do what she knew had to be done. “This is going nowhere. We are going nowhere, ok? I'm eighteen. I want to go to college. I want a life. And you, what are you doing here, Jesse? You came to visit your mother, and you've never left. You graduated with honors from Harvard Law School. You could be working for the most prestigious law firm in the country.” Hearing herself say it, knowing it was all true, made it worse. She was on the edge of her control as tears prickled at the back of her eyes. “If you stay here, you're throwing your future away, because we don't have a future.”

Jesse let her go, his face a study of misery. “I love you, Isabel.”

“You can’t, so don’t.” Isabel walked off. “Just don't.” She walked away, across the street until she saw Alex waiting for her leaning against a building. Going to him, she walked into his arms and hugged him as she cried.

~~~

Kyle opened the door to leave for work and literally walked into a crying Isabel. “Whoa, jeez! Did you knock?”

“No,” sniffed Isabel through the tears.

“So you're lurking now?” He could live a thousand years and no understand women, but alien women … he suspected they were a breed of their own completely unfathomed.

“No.”

“What--what's wrong?” Isabel shook her head and started to leave. This was a bad idea, but she had no where else to go. “Wait, you ok? Here, come on. Come on in.” Kyle nabbed her before she could run away. He led her to the sofa. “What happened? Do you want some water or something?”

“No.”

“Sit …” She just stood there, so he helped her with a push. “Down. Do you want to talk about it?”

“No.” She continued to cry.

“Ok, ok.” She just wanted to cry. He could handle that.

Isabel noticed his uniform he wore to the garage. “Aren't you late for work?”

“Oh, screw that. That's …” Kyle waved it off as something he rather not do anyway. “What happened?”

Isabel wiped away her tears. “I broke up with Jesse.”

“Why?”

“Because there's no way. I can’t. I can’t drag him into this. I can’t.” She had too many black marks on her soul. Grant. Alex. Especially Alex.

“What are you afraid of? What do you think is gonna happen? He's gonna run away?” She didn’t answer. “Isabel, Has anyone you've shared this with ever run away from you? Name one person.” Isabel couldn’t. They all stayed. They all gave up everything to protect her. Alex, Maria, Liz, Kyle and Sheriff Valenti. They walked through fire for the aliens, and yet, they were still there … except Alex. Isabel started to cry again. “Let him in. Let him deal with it.”

“I can’t.” Isabel blew her nose in her tissue wiping away the smudged makeup. “Max and Michael and I, after Alex died, we made a pact to never let anyone else in, ever.”

“Well, just talk to 'em. I'm sure they'll understand.”

“Yeah, right.”  God, becoming a Buddhist made him such an optimist. Someone just shoot her now.

~~~

Michael was digging around in his kitchen for food. He needed to cook dinner for Maria. The boys were helping him and they all wrote out long detailed suggestions for stepping up his courtship of Maria, most of which he burned due to graphic adult materials unfit for Maria to view. Dinner was Steve’s suggestion. Dinner, low lighting, conversation and music. That he could do. Once he got Max to shift his butt somewhere else. It was already three, and he didn’t have much time.

“Well, you can’t move in with her. You'd have to move out of state to avoid her father.” Michael scratched his eyebrow. “Do you still have to cross a state line to be a kidnapper?”

“I don't know.” Max shrugged. “You tell me. You spent years dragging Maria over state lines.”

“Though,” said Michael ignoring Max’s comment about Maria, taking it to be jealousy, “maybe armed robbery would be ahead on the syllabus.”

“Slow down.” Max said more to himself.

Michael stopped sniffing a green pepper to stare at Max. “Am I speaking too fast?”

Max waved that off. “Me and Liz. Calm things down a little. Turn down the heat.”

There was heat? Michael made a face. Okay. “Back on the throttle. Sounds good.” He nodded hoping that was the last of it as far as details went. Michael went back to digging around in his refrigerator as Maria came into the apartment.

“You want a Snapple?” Michael asked Max.

“Where were you?” Maria asked.

Michael’s head pop up from out of the refrigerator noticing his girlfriend … soon to be girlfriend. “Where was I supposed to be?”

“We were supposed to have lunch at school today.”

“We’re having dinner tonight.” Michael pointed out. “Today's Saturday.”

“No, today's Friday. We’re scheduled to have dinner tomorrow night before we take off to the concert.”

“Then why am I making you dinner right now?”

“Hello.” Maria grabbed his confused head. “Where are you?”

“I'm right here.” Michael scratched his eyebrow. “Where's Saturday?”

Maria shook her head at her poor confused friend. “Michael, you big teddy bear, you need to get some serious sleep.” She glanced at Max realizing she had interrupted a conversation. “What, are you guys saving the world from alien invasion?”

“Would that keep you from kicking my ass?” God, he missed lunch with her? Stood her up? Damn, the more he tried to go forward the faster he went backwards.

“I gotta get going.” Max told the couple, not sure he could handle their dysfunctional dating techniques. It was warping to his own affairs.

“Good luck.” Michael called to Max turning back to see Maria’s ironclad pout. “Don't do that.”

“What am I doing?” Maria asked innocently.

“Uh-huh.” Michael shook his head. “You want something from me. You got the look, so spill it, DeLuca. What do I have to pay to fix standing you up at lunch?”

Maria took the green pepper from him shoving it back into the refrigerator. Taking his hand she led him into the bedroom. Turning him around so his back was to the bed, she slowly unbuttoned his shirt.

“You really want to know,” she asked in a low seductive voice.

Michael gulped hard, his mind racing with all the possibilities and a few offered to him from the guys, that even though were physically burned, since remained burningly alive in his mind.

“Yes.” This was it. Finally.

Maria slid the shirt off his shoulders and pushed him backwards on the bed. “Sleep. I’ll wake you for dinner.” Michael lay there stunned as she turned the light out on her way out of his bedroom. Groaning he put an arm across his eyes shutting them. What? So now she was a tease?

~~~

Isabel was in the kitchen with her parents having an early dinner so they could make the early movie. She suffered through their usually Max obsessing.

“So, Max is living with Michael?” Diane Evans asked, needing to understand what exactly was going on with her son.

“More like crashing.” Isabel explained through bites.

“Crashing?” That sounded so transient. Diane frowned. “Does he have his things there? A bed? Is he paying rent?”

Isabel put down her fork. “Can we just try not to talk about Max? For just this once, just tonight. Is that possible?”

Philip agreed. He had told Max to leave, and his wife was still having a hard time dealing with it. “So, you're not gonna believe this, but I have to look for another lawyer.” Philip handed his wife his empty plate. “Again.”

“Someone's leaving?” Diane asked as she gave her husband another serving.

“Jesse.” Philip told her as he took his plate smiling at his wife.

“What? Honey, you said he was the best lawyer your firm has ever had.”

“Apparently, too good for my firm. He's moving back to New York.”

“New York?” Diane shook her head. Jesse was supposed to take some of Philip’s work load. Now she would never see her husband. “Well, I hope he gave you decent notice.

Philip shook his head between bites. “That's the thing. He just walked out on me this afternoon. Totally uncharacteristic.”

Isabel, who had been listening, suddenly stood up. “You know, I actually forgot some books at school. I'm totally-- I'm not--I’m sorry. I'll be right back.”

“Isabel? Honey, what about dinner?” Diane called to her daughter.

“I'll be back.”

~~~

“So you got caught again?”

“The eraser room. We weren’t doing anything and the teacher, he was so nasty asking us if we were planning a bank heist. Of course, who do you think he calls immediately?”

“You dad?” Maria guessed.

“Bingo! The worse thing is, Maria, that Max, he wants to come talk to my father, try to explain, but it’s not going to work. My dad, he’s totally unhinged right now.” Liz glanced at her quiet friend. “Why are you working? I thought you were going to a concert in Santa Fe, and dinner or something?”

“That’s tomorrow. I left a confused Michael, who is not sure which year it is, sleeping. So after this shift, I need to go wake him, feed him, and get him into his uniform for another fun graveyard shift.” Maria frowned at what Liz was doing, her mind obviously not on Maria or what she was doing. “Are you ok?”

“Yeah. Why?” Liz asked distractedly.

“You're making a cottage cheese milk shake.” Maria saw Liz’s face change as she looked at what she was doing. “Sweetie, what? What, what, what?”

“Nothing.” Talking to Maria about Max wasn’t the easiest of things to do. “I just don't know if I’m, like, mad or insane or what.”

“Mad as in angry mad?”

“Yes.”

“Well, I don't know.” Maria leaned a hip against the counter. “You said ‘insane.’ I thought maybe you were expanding on mad as in crazy. Ok, fine. You're mad. What are you mad about?”

“Impotence.”

Maria lifted an eyebrow in surprise, her mouth opening. “Is Max …”

“No. I just-- I feel powerless. I don't know if I should pull the plug or what.”

“Suicide?”

“Please stop. Stop it, ok?” Liz begged Maria, needing it more from other people namely her father and Max. “I need all of you to stop it so I can take a breath.” She looked over as Max walked into the diner.

Maria followed Liz’s horrified gaze and whistled under her breath. “Oh, here we go.”

Liz and Maria weren’t the only ones to see Max. Jeff Parker saw him immediately from the kitchen, and he quickly came out from behind the counter to intercept Max. “No, you don't! No, you don't! Max, get out of here.” Jeff threatened.

“Mr. Parker, I need to speak with you for a second.”

“Get out before I throw you out.”

“Dad...” Liz joined them begging her father to be reasonable.

“Mr. Parker, I think that if we just talked …”

Jeff was ready to physically hit the young man. “I said go.” He pointed the way out emphatically, not bothering to talk or compromise.

“No, Dad. Stop.”

“It's ok.” Max told Liz. “I'm leaving.” Liz watched Max go and turned to her father.

“I hate you.”

Maria’s tense body suddenly went limp. “Well, that went smashingly well,” she said to no one. She wrapped an arm around her stomach, bending slightly to the pain. Her stomach was really hurting.

~~~

Isabel knocked on the door of the Ramirez house. She was nervous with a lovely older Latino woman opened the door. “Mrs. Ramirez? Hi. I … I need to talk to your son. Suddenly very unsure of herself, Isabel stammered. “I'm Isabel.”

Mrs. Ramirez eyes moved over the beautiful young girl’s face, and suddenly a lot was clear. “Come on in.”

“Okay.” Isabel looked around in interest as Jesse’s mother went to get him. Smiling, she looked at family pictures, many of them younger versions of Jesse.

Jesse and Isabel went into the backyard to talk. Isabel wandered around the garden, amazed at the incredible workmanship and gardening skills involved.

“This is beautiful.”

“It's my mom's pride and joy.” Jesse took the pruning shears and made a few snips at the rose bushes.

Isabel glanced at him. “I thought that'd be you.”

“No, I don't bend easily enough to her wishes.” Jesse was a lawyer, he didn’t do prevarication too well. He liked thing honest and direct. “So we should talk.”

“You want to put down those shears first?” Isabel said jokingly, but she really preferred he didn’t have something sharp in his hands. “I don't want to lose you, Jesse.”

Jesse made a face. “Isabel, you broke up with me.” Maybe she didn’t know what that meant?

“I know.”

The indecision was evident on her face. Jesse felt a tinge of encouragement that not only that she came, but that she didn’t want him to leave. “Maybe we should go out to dinner tomorrow night.”

“Dinner?” Isabel felt a slow trickle of fear down her spine. She was going to ruin this.

“I think we both need to lay our cards on the table.”

~~~

“Michael.”

“Hmm?”

“Michael.” Maria said softly, her hand gently pushing him. “You need to wake up. Dinner. You’ve only got a few hours before work.”

Michael rolled over to blink at her as his sleep fogged brain cleared. “Maria.” He reached out and ignoring her squeak, pulled her down beside him, to roll over and trap her against his warm body still heavy with sleep. “You talk too much. Sleep.”

Maria sighed contently and rested against him for a moment, her hand moving up and down his arm. “It’s midnight.”

“Hmm?”

“The time is midnight. You slept for over eight hours.”

“I needed it.”

“You did.”

Michael rolled over and glanced at his clock. It was late. Sniffing the air, he could smell Maria, her favorite scent, and something else … food. “What did you make?”

“Lasagna, extra cheese the way you like it.”

“I didn’t have cheese.”

“Do now. I went grocery shopping, went to work … on a Friday no less, cleared the pigsty of an apartment you call home, which meant shoveling Max stuff from one side of the room to another, and then made dinner.”

“You’ve been busy.”

“I have.” Maria pinched his side lightly. “C’mon, you need to eat and shower. You’ve got tomorrow night off, so you can have fun then. The concert!” She reminded him.

“Right, the concert,” Michael frowned. Did he even remember to buy the tickets? He got up and pulled Maria out of the bed. They went into the other room to eat, and sitting there at the counter, Michael got through two servings of lasagna and a salad before glancing up at the refrigerator.

“Can I have a Snapple?” Maria asked when he went over to read the note he left himself.

“Sure.” Michael stopped and read the note. Bowling league on Saturday night. Oh damn. This Saturday. Groaning he hit his head against the refrigerator. He had double booked his limited free time.

“What’s wrong?”

“I don't know if I have a cold one, but I'll check.” Michael said cursing himself. “Oh, I do.” He handed her the Snapple.

Maria took a drink thanking him, and sitting back staring at her plate that still had too much food, she glanced his way. His jaw was clenched, and he had that look, the concentrated look he got when he was having a conversation with himself in his head.

“So now you really want to tell me what’s wrong?”

Michael rubbed his eyes. “I …” He laughed at himself. At this rate, he would be a fifty year old geezer chasing her about the apartment still trying to convince her to go out of an official date. “I double booked tomorrow night.” Maria went still. “I know the concert was my idea, but I think I forgot to get the tickets, and somewhere, somehow I promised to bowl with the guys in the bowling league.” Michael pointed to the note on his refrigerator.

“Okay.” Maria swallowed her disappointment. She was losing it. Losing him. Between his two jobs, school, and his new friends, she was finding herself back in the same position she had when Liz started dating Max. Outside. Alone. Smiling, she shrugged. “It’s okay. Since you didn’t get the tickets, don’t worry about it. Go bowling.”

“It’s not okay, Maria. I wanted to … it’s just I’ve never been this busy, and …”

“Michael, it’s okay. You don’t owe me anything. It’s not like we’re dating or something.”

That was the problem. Michael sighed. At this rate, they never would.

~~~

“So you double booked your date with Maria, and now you’re going bowling with us, and not her?” Steve asked, needing a little clarification. “And dinner? What about the dinner I told you to make her?”

“I sort of messed that up too. Guess I don’t have to make her dinner since we’re not going to the concert.” Monk, Fly and George shook their heads at how bad Michael was at dating.

“Damn, Chico,” Monk said, “you think maybe you could draw on some hidden romance gene, you know the one you used with other girlfriends, to get this straight?”

“What other girlfriends? Maria is it. For over two years, she’s the only girl I do things with.” Michael made a face. “I mean there is Isabel, but she’s like my sister, you know, plus, what I consider fun, and Isabel considers fun is two extremes. I guess I haven’t had much ‘female’ exposure.”

Fly sat back interested in seeing a guy with worse skills with women than his. “So ask this sister girl you have. Does she know Maria? Maybe she can help.”

Michael remembered the last time he asked for Isabel’s help and the price tag that came along with the earrings. It took him three months to pay them off. “Nah. That wouldn’t work. Isabel has no clue to what makes Maria happy or tick. Isabel’s solution would be something involving money I don’t have, like buy her a country or something. Isabel isn’t practical in the sense of real world expenses. For her, affection and worth usually does have a price tag. Her dad is a lawyer.” Michael explained.

Aww, the guys nodded knowingly. Rich chicks.

“Well, you definitely need help,” said Steve. “At this rate, she’ll be married to another guy pushing out babies before you remember to notice.” Steve picked up the phone.

“Who you calling?” Michael asked.

“An expert.”

~~~

Max and Michael were playing table soccer, as Isabel knocked. Max had been telling him about the humiliating fight he had with Liz’s father. Michael made some asinine comment about Max needing to define what ‘slowing it down’ really meant, and Max calmly asked Michael how his campaign to win Maria was going.

“Come in. It's open.” Michael called to the knock. “You're going down,” he said to Max.

Isabel shut the door leaning against it for a moment. “I need to talk to you guys.”

“All right.” Michael glanced at the clock. “Make it quick. I got a big night ahead of me.”

Max sneered at Michael smacking the ball towards Michael’s goal. “What's up, Iz?”

Isabel took a deep breath and dived in. “Ok, I'm just gonna make it simple. And I don't really think it's that big of a deal anyway so, you know, I'm just gonna say it, and you can react. There's … there's someone I want to tell about us.”

Michael stopped playing. “Well, I'm glad you don't think that's a big deal,” he said sarcastically. “Who?”

“His name is Jesse Ramirez. You both know him. He's …”

“The lawyer who works for Dad?”

“Yeah.”

“And why do you want to tell him?” Max asked, not liking this already, his back stiffening.

“Because we've gotten close.”

“Close?”

Isabel glared at the cold matter of fact voice. “Yes, close.”

“Meaning you and he are, uh …” Max knew he didn’t like this.

“Involved.”

Michael wasn’t as involved as obviously Max was. To him it was simple. “Are you pregnant?”

“No.” Isabel looked at Michael in shock that he would ask such a personal question of her. “We haven't even slept together.”

Michael kept on his list of important questions. “Has he seen you use your powers?”

“No.”

Michael put his hands back on his game already bored with the conversation, seeing no real need to tell this Jesse person a damn thing. “Then why are we having this conversation?”

Max wasn’t as simplistic as Michael. “Well, then why do you need to tell him?”

They were the two most irritating brothers a girl could have. “I don't need to. I want to. I want him to know because I want to be honest with him. I love him, and I want him to know me. I don't want to hide.” They both went back to the game considering it a closed subject. “Do you guys know how humiliating this is for me? To have to come here and ask your permission to have an open conversation with my boyfriend? Can you just imagine it for a second and put yourself in my position?”

Michael stopped playing again after slamming another shot into Max goal, and scoring. “I'm gonna put this as simple as possible. Isabel, I'm happy you have a boyfriend. Congrats. That said, lie about the alien thing.” Michael swore as he glanced at the time. He needed to leave now or he wouldn’t intercept Maria at work. He didn’t even bother to say goodbye. He had said all he needed.

“He's gonna leave, Max.” Isabel told her brother needing him to understand, to feel how important this was to her. “If I’m not honest with him, he's gonna leave.”

“How long have you two been, uh …”

“Three months. But I know him. I know him. This is the first time I’ve ever felt this way. I'm in love with him, and if I lose this, I don't know what the hell I’m doing here on earth. I mean, you have Liz, Michael has Maria. This is the first time I’ve had someone.”

“Isabel, what if in three months from now or even six months from now, you two break up?”

“We won't.”

“How do you know?”

“How did you know to tell Liz?” Isabel easily turned the tables on Max. He and Liz weren’t even friends when he told her. He trusted his instinct that said they had a connection or would if they could get past his alien side. “I just do.”

“Right now, I'm not so sure it was the best idea to tell Liz. It's screwing up her entire life.”

“No matter how much it screws up her life, you still have each other.” She couldn’t believe that after all he and Liz had been through, all the pain and hard times, that he was now questioning the choice he made to tell her … to involve her in all their lives. “Isn't that the most important thing?”

“Think about Jesse, Isabel. We agreed not to tell anyone else after Alex died because we didn't want to put anyone else at risk. The second you tell Jesse, his life changes … Forever. He becomes a part of a secret he didn't ask to be part of. You can’t tell him, Isabel. For his sake.

~~~

Maria came out of the Crashdown and was walking towards the Jetta when she saw Michael leaning up against it. Pausing, she rolled her shoulders and went to meet him.

“Hey.”

“Hey. What are you doing here?”

“I came to get you.” Maria tipped her head. “I have this big bowling thing tonight, and I promised some guys to be there. I was hoping that you’d be free to come along … maybe cheer me on and all that.”

“You want me to cheerlead? For you?”

“No. Yeah. Well, only if you want to. See we’re taking on the losers from Kyle’s garage, and I have it under good authority that you had plans that didn’t pan out because this big jerk you know stood you up for something else.”

“You heard that, huh?”

“Yeah. So if you haven’t made any other plans, I was hoping that you would spend it with me. I can’t promise you much. Loud rude guys, crashing pins, and maybe a tuna melt and a Snapple.”

Maria smiled and shook her head at his invitation, actually, she wasn’t sure what she felt, but whatever it was, it was warm.

“The thing is, Maria,” said Michael. “The thing is that I’ve been so caught up lately in this whole living on earth idea. I never … I never bothered to try to … I mean, I was always leaving, and so making friends, human friends, it was … you know …”

“Something you didn’t do.”

“Right, except for you. You’ve always been the exception, then the example, and finally the idea.” Michael grabbed both of her hands and drew her closer. “I’ve spent around two years having you be a friend, and then becoming my best friend. I mean, I had the others, you know … Max and Isabel, Alex, Liz and Kyle, but in truth, they don’t compare to my friendship to you.”

Maria smiled.

“So suddenly I found this group of guys, and they became friends too. They don’t know anything about me, except what I tell them, and that’s okay. They’re very accepting. Now, they will never be you, but there are things I do with you, things I love to do. But with them, I do …”

“Guy things?”

Michael laughed. “Yeah. Guy things. Like what you do with Liz and Isabel.”

“Girl things.”

“Right.”

Maria stared at the ground for a moment. “You know the other morning Isabel came to the Crashdown, and she saw you laughing with the guys. She was so surprised that you were laughing. I didn’t think much of it at first, but then I realized it was true. You never laugh like that.”

“Yes I do. I laugh with you all the time.”

“No. I mean, yes, you do. You laugh with me. But, Michael, this was the first time I ever seen you laugh that way with someone else, not me.” Maria put her hand on his shirt front to pull at the material. “I never realized how selfish and jealous I am over you, over having you all to myself. And now, now you have other friends.”

“I’m not giving you up, Maria … I’m not replacing you.”

“I know that.” Maria looked in his eyes. “I guess what I’m saying is, I love seeing this new phase for you. I don’t think I really ever believed that you were staying here, on earth until this very moment. You making connections with others it’s …” Maria searched for words. “Always, you were a visitor here, waiting to go home. Now you have friends, and you’re happy, and I love to see you happy. This is a good thing.”

Michael pulled her close. “I am happy. There is one thing you have to understand, Maria. I like my friends, but I love you. You are my best friend, and wherever I go, whatever I do, I plan to take you with me.”

Maria hugged him hard. “I missed you,” she whispered to him.

“I miss you too.” Michael mated his forehead to hers. “So you are coming to cheer me on? If you do, I’ll have the guys buy you a beer.”

Maria pulled back. “Are you offering to get me drunk, Mr. Guerin?”

“It’s that alien thing. Since I can’t drink I was thinking we could start this new phase in our friendship were I get to live vicariously through you.”

Maria let him lead her to the bike. “Hmm.” So he wanted to live vicariously through her? “How do you feel about a bikini wax?”

Michael waited until she was on the bike behind him. Handing her her helmet, he glanced back. “Let’s not get too carried away.”

~~~

Liz entered her room to find her mom waiting there. It was strange that in this conflict her mother was the voice of reason the bridge between her and her father. Maybe it was too easy as a youth to forget that not all things were about you, and that perhaps your parents had demons too, but Liz’s mother brought that truth home.

She told Liz a story about her father, who in his youth was responsible for his first love, his high school sweetheart’s death. It was during a bout of wild irresponsible behavior on his part, but the end result had been the girl’s death. Her father, a man she thought she knew, had once written love poetry to a girl long since dead. He had dreamt dreams of another life, one very different from the one he lived.

Listening, really for the first time, listening to her mom, she was coming to understand how terrified her father was of losing her to a boy whose irresponsible behavior placed her at risk. He was terrified of losing someone he loved once again.

Liz found her father downstairs in the closed diner doing the daily accounting. She watched him for a moment before approaching.

“Do you need help with those?”

Jeff glanced up at his daughter in surprise. It was perhaps the first time she offered to help or said a civil word to him since forever. “Thanks.”

Liz worked on the accounts with her father sorting the daily receipts. Gathering her courage she asked, “Do you have any poems that I could read?”

“What?”

“Poems. Yours.” Liz explained. “I would like to read one.”

Jeff didn’t know how she knew, but he suspected his wife’s input. “I, uh, I threw 'em away. It was a long time ago.”

“Well, maybe you could write a new one.” Liz put the receipts aside. She owed him a lot, but mostly an apology. “I don't hate you, Dad.”

Jeff looked up and smiled at his daughter with tears in his eyes. “You're the poem, Liz. You're the poem.”

~~~

As nervous as she was, Isabel met Jesse for dinner. All their cards on the table? That sounded ominous, but not as ominous as the ring she found in Jesse’s dinner jacket. They were at Senior Chows, but the lines were too long. Jesse went to check, giving Isabel his jacket first to keep her warm. She put her hand into the pocket and found the ring. When Jesse came back, Isabel was stiff and a little distant distracted by the thought that Jesse was planning on proposing to her. The skipped Senior Chows for a new French restaurant. Isabel excused herself to go to the ladies, and there she tried to calm herself.

“He's gonna propose. He's gonna tell me either I'm with him forever or he's leaving forever.” Isabel told Alex’s ghostly reflection in the mirror.

Alex leaned against the wall. “And what will you say?”

“I don't want to ruin his life.”

“You didn't ruin my life, Isabel. You made me alive.”

“I also killed you,” said Isabel.

“No, you didn't.” Alex told her, needing her to release her guilt, to release him. “You didn't kill me, Isabel, and you didn't kill Grant either. We were victims of circumstance. That's all. And you need to forgive yourself.”

“I can’t.” Isabel shook her head staring at her reflection. How could she? Alex was gone, and nothing could ever make that right.

“Well, I forgive you, and since I'm part of you, you just did.”

Isabel and Jesse ate dinner, and when Jesse tried to talk to Isabel he admitted that he couldn’t go on with their relationship the way it was. He did want to lie or fake his way through being together. Isabel showed him the ring he took from his pocket and asked him if he was going to chicken out of asking her to marry him. Much to Isabel’s embarrassment, the ring actually belonged to Jesse’s mother, and we merely getting it cleaned. Seeing how disappointed Isabel was in an unguarded moment, Jesse followed his own advice and asked her to marry him.

Jesse admitted that he should leave Roswell,  that not accepting a better position would probably be something he would regret, but when compared to his regret over not being with Isabel, he chose Isabel. She listened to him, and when he asked her to marry him, she couldn’t. There was too much he didn’t know, didn’t understand. His life meant everything to her.

“Jesse, I … I can’t. I really, really want to. I really want to, but I can’t.”

Jesse sat back having the wind knocked out of him. “Oh.”

“I'm so sorry.”

“No. It's ok. I just feel … really … stupid.”

“I didn't mean for you to …”

Jesse got up from the table. “I … I think I should just go. Good-bye, Isabel.”

“Go … go to him.” Alex told Isabel.

Isabel sunk her head in her hands. “I can’t.”

“Isabel, will you look at what you're doing to your life? You're stopping it. You're killing it. You're … you're sitting at a table with no one. I'm not really here.” Alex needed to her to release him, to live her life. His was over, and staying was only hurting her. “You need to move on. You need to move past me, and you need to start now.”

Isabel looked at him and smiled sadly. “If I ever have a son, I'm going to name him Alex.”

“What? … Thank you that’s truly … thanks … now go!”

Alex watched as Isabel ran after Jesse and accepted his proposal. Watching them kiss, it was like a release. Isabel hugged Jesse and over his shoulder, she saw Alex standing there next to the tree and she could almost hear his words in her head, the words she had from him at his grave the night before they tried to leave earth. “I know how scary it is, to have to leave … leave this world, but as it turns out, it's not so bad. Your heart is your heart,  your soul is your soul. That doesn't change.” He waved, and faded away.

“I love you, Isabel.”

“I love you, too, Jesse.”

~~~

Michael was laughing at Maria, as she sat at the scoring table with George who was intent on teaching her how to score. He frowned when he noticed that George actually bought her a drink … a beer and she was sipping it. He laughed when she shriveled up her nose at the taste.

Fly punched Michael’s arm for the second time trying to get his attention away from Maria. “Hey, do you want to win this or not?”

“Yeah,” Michael told Fly. Sure he did. Was that her first beer or second?

“Hey, how's date night going?” Monk asked.

“You tell me. She’s spending it with us.” Michael frowned when Maria drank again. “I'll be lucky if she ever talks to me again if George gets her drunk.” Steve was quietly laughing next to him. “Hey, Steve, tell your wife thanks for her advice. It helped.”

“She’s a pro!” Steve said about his wife who suggested that Michael invite Maria to join them. “Knows exactly what a woman would want.”

Michael watched Maria again talking to his friends, laughing with them. Steve’s wife Cheryl had been right. The best way to make Maria feel comfortable with him was to make her part of his friendship with the others. That way she wasn’t losing his attention, just altering it to include a few more people.

“She’s good. I could’ve really messed this up.”

“Well you’ll like this then. Next weekend, she wants you to bring Maria to dinner at our place. She said nothing makes a couple feel like a couple until they start socializing with other couples.”

Michael paled. “Is that like a double date?”

“Speaking of doubles,” Kyle said holding two blue bowling balls at his chest for Michael. “Oh. These yours?”

“Funny.” Michael made a face. His blue balls were not a subject for levity. “Hey. How we doing?”

Kyle smirked. “You're losing.”

“All right,” Michael stood up to take his turn.

“Final frame, baby!” Fly told Michael encouraging him to be great. “You get a strike we win this mother.”

“Right.” Kyle snickered. “Like that's gonna happen.”

“Hey, don't look over there.” Fly told Michael making an obscene gesture at Kyle and his grease monkey pit crew. “You don't need none of that psych-out crap.”

“But if you screw up, I still love you, man.” Steve reassured him.

Michael made a face. The pressure was on. “Thanks.”

Maria called to him from the scoring seat. “Do it, Spaceboy! Do your thing, take them out!” She was cheering him on. Michael frowned. Okay, it was official. Maria cheering meant she was definitely drunk.

Kyle, hearing Maria’s orders, pulled Michael to the side a little. “Hey, hey. Remember, uh, no alien funny business.”

“Hey! Back off.” Michael lined up the shot, his eyes on the prize, ten little pins at the end of a long lane. He released and got a strike as his friends cheered and congratulated him. Maria rushed up to him throwing herself in his arms hugging him tight and he swung her around in a circle. Having friends was nice, but it was even better having them and Maria.

After the game, Michael and the guys tried to teach Maria how to bowl, and as terrible as he was at dancing, Maria was worse at bowling.

When they got back to the apartment, they were both laughing and making too much noise. Max glanced over when Michael and Maria came through the door, Michael practically carrying a clinging Maria.

“Is she …”

“Yep, drunk as a skunk.”

“You got her drunk?”

“Technically, no.” Michael put Maria on her feet, but she immediately began to lean. “I’m underage, so Steve and the guys bought the beers.” Michael picked Maria up again before she collapsed into a pile on the floor at his feet. “Whoa, there partner!”

“You didn’t …”

“Drink? Nah. I was tempted, but someone had to be the designated driver. That bike has a mind of its own otherwise.” Michael saw the look Max gave him. “Hey, don’t give me that look. Maria drinks at Raves and parties. Not a lot because she’s a light weight. One beer, and she’s at her limit. I’m not trying to get her drunk or anything, and if we could drink … I would.”

Maria was leaning into Michael humming to herself feeling no pain. She had fun. Who knew bowling could be fun, and that George was a real cute guy.

“What are you going to do with her?”

Michael glanced at the dishrag in his arms. “Put her to bed. She’ll hate me in the morning when she wakes up with a headache. It’ll be my fault then for not stopping her at one beer.”

“How many did she have?”

“Two.”

“Two?” Max looked at the toasted Maria. “She is a light weight.”

“Yeah.” Michael picked Maria up. “Uppsy Daisy. It’s bedtime for you, Ms. DeLuca.”

“That’s Maria to you, Skippy.” Maria told him laughing at her own humor. Max laughed and went back to reading when Michael took Maria into the bedroom shutting the door behind him. He dumped her into his bed swearing because he hadn’t changed his sheets in a week. Maria loved a fresh bed to sleep in, and since he started working nights she hardly spent any time at his place so he wasn’t as self conscious.

Michael quickly stripped her to her slip, taking off her shoes and folding her clothes neatly across a chair. Picking her up to push her higher up on the bed, Maria’s arms went around his neck.

“You coming to bed?” She asked huskily.

“In a little bit.”

“Come to bed. I hate sleeping alone, and I’ve missed you.”

Michael looked at her, and in her condition, that was probably not the best idea he could come up with. She was too pliant, too … sexy. “I will in just a little while, I promise.”

“Promise?”

“Absolutely. Here, you go to sleep and hog all the space and covers.”

“’K.” She pulled his head down and kissed him goodnight. Their mouths touched, and both of them opened their mouth, breathing each other’s breath. Michael groaned when he felt her tongue on his lip, and Maria breathed softly, “I really love you.”

Michael didn’t hesitate. His mouth found hers and this time he didn’t hang back or stop at just the brush of lips. Their tongues met in hunger savoring the taste of the other. Maria moaned into his mouth as he moved into her. Maria pulled Michael's tongue inside and the kiss deepened and became their world. Michael's hand curved around Maria’s neck as his hand buried in the silky strands of her hair and pulling her head back. His other hand went down her body to wind his arm around her small waist, pulling her body hard into his. Pulling slowly back his lips tugging on hers as he breathed in her taste, he glanced down to see her reaction.

She was asleep.

Letting her go, Michael rolled over on his back on the bed beside her. Shit. She was drunk and wouldn’t remember ever kissing him. He put an arm over his eyes, but a slow smile moved over his face. But she did. She kissed him. Getting up, he watched her for a moment, loving everything about her, as his eyes studied her face. “I really love you too,” he whispered before kissing her lax sleeping lips and nuzzling his face against hers.

Going into the other room, he closed the door softly.

“Is she asleep?”

“Unfortunately,” Michael headed for the bathroom.

“What are you going to do?”

“Take a damn cold shower.”

~~~

Maria smiled loving the warm feeling as it lapped at her body. It was a hot feeling inside, trembling and new, something that was more than a place, but was so ubiquitous it moved through cell to cell flooding them, becoming. Sighing, she felt it like a tingle in her spine, a delicious thirst. “Michael...,” she breathed softly.

“It’s about time.”

Maria turned, still lulled by the warm waters holding her. “Alex?” She stared at him, and he gave her that lopsided smiled she loved. “Alex!” Maria shook off the lethargic feeling in her bones and hugged him hard, laughing and crying at the same time.

“Hey, funny face.”

“Alex,” she cried. “I’ve missed you, every day! Every moment of every day. My life is so pale without you here.” Maria’s eyes moved over him. “I can’t …”

“I know.” Alex held her kissing her forehead. “You make me live, Maria. Inside you, I live as long as you remember.”

“As if I could ever forget!” Maria felt the tear on her cheek as her hands moved over his body, needing to feel him firm in her hands, real and substantial. “I hate that my last time I saw you … I didn’t know. All the things I never shared with you, all the days I would walk alone, and you wouldn’t be there. God, forgive me, Alex. All I think about is myself, and how my life is less without you.”

“I’m here.” Alex pushed her away to look at her, his eyes penetrating. “Aw! There she is! There is my girl. So you tasted desire. So you feel …”

“Come back to me.”

Alex shook his head. “I can’t. I’m already gone. I’m only held here by those who can’t forget, who live to feel me near. I’m here for you, Maria, but you really don’t need me anymore. Let me go.”

Maria shook her head. “What if I can’t?

“Then I’ll stay until one day I’m a thought, then another day I’m merely a smile, and another day I’m merely a shadow that pulls a frown of what you forgot. I’ll stay until you can go on.”

“I wish I was as strong as you always were. I wish …”

“You are. Where it counts, you are Herculean.” Alex held her humming, the music a bond unbreakable between them. “Don’t fear love. Don’t.”

“Don’t go!”

Maria stood on the edge of the sea, turning in a twirl, she searched the shoreline for the meeting of sea to earth screaming, “Alex! Alex!”

“Maria!”

She made a sound of distress.

“Maria, wake up … you’re dreaming.”

Crying, she sat up in the dark wiping away the tears that never seemed to go away. Sitting up in Michael’s bed, breathing in harsh pants, she wiped the sweaty hair from her face, and out of the shadows emerged Alex.

~~~

Michael almost fell out of his chair at Maria’s scream. Rushing to his feet, he and Max burst into his dark bedroom to find a hysterical Maria in the middle of the bed weeping uncontrollably.

Jumping on the bed he pulled her into his arms while she talked wildly, incoherent. Thrashing about, he could feel the pounding of her heart, the sweat covering her body in a filmy sheen while her skin was deathly pale.

“Max, hot tea!” Michael ordered as he began to rock her in his arms talking to her in low soothing sounds. Max watched as they slowly got Maria calmed down enough to talk. Michael listened as Max turned lights on in the room. It took a little time to decipher what happened, but finally Michael looked at Max.

“Get Isabel.”

~~~

The room behind her was quiet. Isabel stood in the door way watching the quiet girl wrapped in a blanket holding a cup of tea. She was so small in the middle of the bed hugging herself. Closing the door behind her, she leaned against it. Maria looked up at her with a pale face.

“Isabel?”

Isabel cleared her throat. “I … I think I owe you an apology.” Isabel came and sat on the bed facing Maria. “Michael told me about the dream inside a dream.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know you don’t.” Isabel licked her lips. “I … I’ve been having a hard time lately. I found someone … someone I love.”

“That’s bad?”

“No. Yes.” Isabel laughed. “No. It’s … wonderful. Wonderful, and terrifying, and so much I can’t even describe it. I love him, and I can’t tell him about me. Max and Michael won’t let me. That’s not the only problem.” Isabel glanced at her hands in her lap. “There was Alex.”

“Alex?”

Isabel nodded sniffing. “I don’t know what it is, or how, but I think my gift … of dreams, it makes me able to bring Alex back.”

“Alex,” Maria said softly her eyes filling with tears again.

“He’s not real. He is like my conscience. He’s there when I need him, and until today, I haven’t been ready to let him go. I needed him to forgive me, to tell me it was alright for me to find love … to go on. In the last week, he’s been my constant companion, so strong in my mind.”

“He’s not here?” Maria asked, her voice so quiet and small.

“No. He’s long since been gone, except his memory that I keep alive in my mind. I think because I have invaded your dreams a few times, and tonight I said goodbye to Alex, that you were weaker than usual, your defenses were down, and in our dreams we were both dreaming of Alex, and I pushed him into your mind.”

“Then he’s not … I can’t have him back?”

“No.” Isabel shook her head tears moving down her face. “No.”

“But he was here. I saw him. I felt him, and …” Maria looked at Isabel and saw the truth. It was a dream. A dream they shared … Alex. Maria breathed in a shaky sob.

“I didn’t mean to scare you or upset you. I just needed Alex a lot lately. You have to understand, he is always with me, in my heart. Alex is like my first love. I barely touched the idea that I could have him when he was taken.” Isabel took one of Maria’s cold hands. “I never … I don’t know about my past life, because I know that I never felt love, not like this in my life. I couldn’t recognize it, but that was what Alex taught me. He taught me to understand what I was feeling. He taught me how to love, so when I met Jesse I knew. Alex taught me, and I knew that I was in love.”

“Will he ever come back?” Maria asked holding her breath.

Isabel let go of her held breath. “No.” She said softly. “I finally found the strength to let him go. He won’t be back.”

Maria put her hand across her eyes and started crying again. Isabel moved in closer and she and Maria hugged both of them crying.

Max and Michael stood in the other room listening to the soft sound of the two girls crying neither of them moving. They stared out Michael’s open back door at the night.

“I can take a lot, Max, but I can’t take seeing Maria in pain.” Michael told the quiet man next to him. “She’s live through a lot in the last year. If ever you treat Liz the way you did last year again, I will find you, and you will pay.”

“I didn’t think you liked Liz.” Max was shocked by the threat.

“I don’t. Maybe it isn’t so much like or dislike, just she doesn’t really register with me. But, I love Maria, and she loves Liz, and when Liz hurts … Maria hurts. And that I can’t have.”

Max merely nodded.

The vicissitude of life was generally a gradual event, slowly altering just below the surface of awareness. Most people hate change more than they hate anything. It was tumultuous and bounding out of reasonable control. The mere chaos was a disturbing rush of reality, that this was it … this was moment that changed everything, and the future was now uncertain and unknown. Even when a normal life was bad, and pain was a constant companion, at least it was familiar in its unchanging form. And if you changed, it might actually get worse. So staying the same, no matter how bad it was, was better than the alternative … the unknown.

Alex’s death was a swift fast change, hard and desperate, cutting cleanly like a surgical blade. There was no preparation or gradual adjustment along the way. Alex, gone, was an echoing wave that moved through their lives. As was the nature of most people, the reluctance to change held them captured.

The more things changed, the more they stayed the same. Maria had stood still for so long, absolutely still, hoping that if she did not move, that change would pass her by. Even when her life was horrible, it didn’t matter, because she had learned to live with the pain of it, and it was nothing if not familiar.

Life had a way of throwing zingers to them.

Isabel fought the desire to change, drawn into the fear of losing again. Maria held the only body that felt ever unchanging close, Michael, but then he altered before her eyes she was slowly awaking to a realization that to be with him, she would have to change too.

Liz’s father was fighting a fate, a rerun of tragedy that marked and made his life, as Max and Liz struggled to return to a time that was so much simpler. And Michael, the most unchangeable of them all, found that for him to go on, to make his own future, he needed change, because static life trapped as only Maria’s friend, he wasn’t really living. He needed his relationship with her to become something more.

So they all fought in a sea of viscosity weighing and troublesome, slowly pulled down by the undertow, accepting the changes, as a blind jump into an uncertain future. It was strange to realize that when change came it was quiet and unassuming, leisurely altering along the course, until one day they woke up, and thing had altered without them realizing it. There had been no loud explosions or bursting realities along the way, just a gentle shift in the spectrum.

Standing there, at the edge of awareness, they all saw the changes that had gradually entered their lives, and suddenly they were different people. The gradual ambush of nature, taking away the pain of a sudden departure, lulled them in a security that maybe this would be the last time they had to change. That this would make them be who they would be forever. They prayed that they would never have to change again, and never again, so violently.